Dataset title: Focus groups characteristics and participants (Tabel 1 and table 2)

Author: Janar Pekarev
Sociology, Institute of Social Studies
University of Tartu, Estonia
Contact: janar.pekarev@ut.ee

Dataset License: this data set is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Publication Year: 2022

Project info: The iMUGS (Integrated Modular Unmanned Ground System) project is funded by the EDIDP (European Defence Industrial Development Programme) and implemented from 2020-2023 by a consortium of seven EU Member States. The project aims to develop hybrid manned-unmanned systems to address an extensive range of missions and functionalities. The sub-objective of the Estonian research group, nr R-012 01.12.2020–31.03.2022 (funding: 152 000 EUR, principal investigator: prof Wolfgang Wagner) was to analyze unmanned ground systems' legal, social, and ethical aspects. This paper examines the attitudes of military personnel towards unmanned ground systems exclusively. The primary goal of this study was to explore thoughts and opinions about the development of unmanned ground systems and the implications of their use in the military context. The research report is available upon request.

General Introduction
This dataset contains data collected during focus-group interviews by a research company (Market Research AS). The company interviewed the participants and provided the transcriptions (the detailed methodology for the selection procedure is available in the research report upon request). The ethics committee of the University of Tartu accepted the study.

Procedure and interview format
The study was conducted in the spring of 2021 via the Zoom application due to COVID-19 restrictions. Each meeting lasted about two hours and consisted of 12 questions and statements meant to provoke free associations to discuss a specific topic orally.

Data analysis
The quotations of participants’ opinions and beliefs were marked with codes in the following manner (for instance, 1ET36FH and 6RU35MS). Each code begins with a focus group number (1-6), followed by an abbreviation indicating the spoken language of the participant (ET-Estonian, RU-Russian), and then a notation showing the age, gender (F-female, M-male), and education level (H-higher, S-secondary) of the participant. In addition, an asterisk was also (*; **) used in cases where the social demographics code is the same as it appears in the focus groups nr 1 and 2.