Elite Interviewing: Approaches and Pitfalls

Richards, David

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9256.1996.tb00039.x

Cited by 223 publications

(190 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The interview partners, social media directors in the federal govern ment, can be considered as elites in relatively high level management positions with public exposure (Richards, 1996). The chosen sample in cluded all those individuals in a department with the main responsibil ity for social media interactions and resources.…”

Section: Case Selection and Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social media adoption and resulting tactics in the U.S. federal government

Mergel

2013

Government Information Quarterly

357

230

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In 2009, the departments in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government received the presidential marching order to "harness new technologies" in order to become more transparent, collaborative and par ticipatory. Given this mandate, this article sets out to provide insights from qualitative interviews with social media directors to understand the factors that influence internal adoption decisions to use social media ap plications, such as Facebook, Twitter, or blogs. Three distinct factors influence the adoption decisions of social media directors: information about best practices in their informal network of peers, passive observations of perceived best practices in the public and private sector, and "market driven" citizen behavior. The resulting adoption tactics include: (1) representation, (2) engagement, and (3) networking. The findings point to the need for higher degrees of formalized knowledge sharing when it comes to disruptive technology innova tions such as social media use in highly bureaucratic communication environments. Recommendations based on the lessons learned are provided for practitioners and social media researchers to develop social media tactics for different organizational purposes in government.

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Section: Case Selection and Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social media adoption and resulting tactics in the U.S. federal government

Mergel

2013

Government Information Quarterly

357

230

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“…Here, many publications and symposia deal with issues specific to the interview as a scientific method: how to conduct and code interviews (Aberbach andRockman 2002, Harvey 2011), interview validity (Berry 2002, Dorussen et al 2005, sampling (Goldstein 2002), techniques for asking questions (Leech 2002, Richards 1996, Stax 2004) and ethical considerations (Corbin andMorse 2003, Mitchell andIrvine 2008). Some of these publications also treat general questions as for how to get access to political elites and how to approach them (cf.…”

Section: Literature Overview: Neglecting Organisational As-pectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some of these publications also treat general questions as for how to get access to political elites and how to approach them (cf. Leuffen 2006, Lilleker 2003, Richards 1996. Others touch on organisational aspects.…”

Section: Literature Overview: Neglecting Organisational As-pectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

get organised: the ‘do’s’ preceding successful field research

Kern

Vossiek

2014

Eur Polit Sci

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There is no shortage in the political science literature on field research regarding issues of research design, methodology, and data evaluation. Yet, the practical and organisational intricacies that precede successful fieldwork are frequently overlooked. This lack of methodical advice may be due to the impression that field research is highly contextual, and so casespecific that general guidelines, which apply to all field research endeavours alike, are inconceivable. While we acknowledge the organisational complexity of field research, we disagree with the notion that the preparatory dimension of fieldwork is by necessity unique for every undertaking. Rather, recommendations for common challenges that occur during the preparation and organisation phase of a field trip can be identified and formulated.Consequently, we present and discuss ten organisational 'do's' preceding successful field research. Current graduate students and future field researchers will regard these ten pointers as useful hints in the organisation of their own endeavour. While the list is by no 2 means exhaustive, the ten recommendations will lower the organisational entry costs of aspiring field researchers, and enable them to hit the ground running when arriving in the field.

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“…In particular, following the 'elite inter-viewing' approach proposed in [33], we conducted interviews with the SM managers of ten Greek government agencies from all three layers of it: four from the central government, three from the regional government and three from the municipal government. The above individuals (higher rank public servants or advisors of the top elected official) have a good and complete knowledge concerning the use of SM in their government agencies, so they are the most appropriate ones for providing to us the information required for this study.…”

Section: Methods and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%