Interviewing Elites

Mikecz, Robert

doi:10.1177/1077800412442818

Cited by 278 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Therefore, and based on my experience, researching elites in Oman is full of difficulties. This is also the case in other places as shown by the literature (Harvey, 2011;Mikecz, 2012;Smith, 2006;Welch et al, 2002). The degree of difficulty for me depended heavily on the position and the institution that the interviewee was in charge of and/or where they worked.…”

Section: Elite Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Several studies confirm that gaining access to research sites and respondents is more difficult with elites than non-elites (Harvey, 2011;Mikecz, 2012;Smith, 2006;Welch et al, 2002). As stated by Herod (1999), elites think of the researcher as getting benefits from the interviews and that they are doing a favour for them.…”

Section: Challenges Of Gaining Accessmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The characteristics of those studied, the power relations between them and the researchers and the politics of the research process differ considerably between elite and non-elite research" (p.299). In general, I believed that my positionality in this study has played a significant role in ensuring that I prepared very thoroughly for the interviews, as well as helping during the interviews (see Mikecz, 2012). Moreover, being a PhD student at a well-known and a well-ranked Western university (UQ) as well as writing the PhD in English ensured the interviewees valued the study.…”

Section: My Positionalitymentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The proposed number of interviews was approximately 50. Harvey, 2011;Mikecz, 2012;Welch, Marschan-Piekkari, Penttinen & Tahvanainen, 2002). Elite interviewing also takes on greater salience in a political structure such as that in contemporary Oman, where research of this kind is not common.…”

Section: The Proposed Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The attention and popularity are due to differences and issues that such interviews have compared with other types of research interviews. Mikecz (2012) elaborates that elite interviews are dissimilar from most research interviews because of the power and the position of the interviewees, which affects access, getting needed data, and writing about these elites. Various studies have focused on interviewing elites and have concluded that conducting research with elites normally has been full of concerns and considerations at every single phase of the research process, starting from writing the proposal up, to collecting and analysing data, through to publishing the results (Harvey, 2011;Mikecz, 2012;Welch, Marschan-Piekkari et al, 2002).…”

Section: Elite Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Higher education policy architecture and policy-making in the Sultanate of Oman: towards a critical understanding

Al’Abri¹

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The higher education (HE) system in Oman is governed and controlled by the state and is thus a government managed sector in which the state is the chief policy player. The main aim of this study is to provide a critical understanding of the policy architecture and policy-making processes in Omani HE since 1986. More specifically, the study seeks: to describe the Omani HE policy-making architecture and its operation; to analyse the impact of this architecture and its operations on the HE system; and to investigate national, regional and global factors affecting HE policy.The study employed a qualitative methodology. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis were the methods used for generating data. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 43 policy-makers and others involved in Omani HE. The documents included:Royal Decrees, Ministerial decisions, Organizational charts of HEIs, Legislative documents, strategic plans, and meeting minutes. Those documents were from the post 1986 period, aligning with the time frame of the study. These documents are ready for use as they are published for the public. The data generated through interviews and document analysis were analysed thematically according to an inductive approach and through the lens of the theoretical framework.The study finds that the Omani political system results in a hierarchical approach to policy-making for the HE sector. This architecture has three levels-the top level of government, specialized bodies, and the field-with strong control concentrated at the top level of the government and weaker control available to agencies at the lower levels of the system. The study conceptualizes the policy-making architecture of the entire Omani HE system as a cascade of principal-agent games, showing that the Omani Government is a highly powerful controller of HE policy-making. The relationships between the different policy actors and bodies within this hierarchical architecture are documented and described in terms of four different scenarios: (1) policy development by the Education Council; (2) policies emanating from the Sultan; (3) policies emanating from the Cabinet and the Supreme Council for Planning; and (4) policies proposed by the Oman Council.A key argument of the study is that the Omani government developed and reformed its HE system in relation to national pressures for development, student demand, and regional and global pressures. The Omani HE system is situated in relation to national, regional and global contexts and thus, its policies were made and implemented in responses to complex intersections of these contexts. Nationally, pressure has been placed on HE policy by the political system of the state, the economy, the labour market, the schooling system, the history of the HE system, and broader social changes. Regionally, the study finds that Oman learned from, and borrowed much HE policy from, neighbouring Arab Gulf States, motivated by dynamics of both competition and cooperation. The ii Cooper...

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Section: Elite Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Challenges Of Gaining Accessmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: My Positionalitymentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: The Proposed Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Elite Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Higher education policy architecture and policy-making in the Sultanate of Oman: towards a critical understanding

Al’Abri¹

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Seeing is believing: A qualitative study examining how high and ultra‐high‐net‐worth donors utilise evidence to inform their giving and the barriers to and facilitators of the use of evidence

Greenhalgh

Montgomery

2023

Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing

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Whilst there is growing recognition across the non‐profit literature, that the giving of resources ought to be informed by rigorous evidence, few studies to date have examined how high and ultra‐high‐net‐worth donors use evidence to inform their philanthropy, the type and quality of the evidence they utilise, and how they measure the performance of the charities they support. The primary objective of this study was to examine whether and how philanthropists employ evidence to inform their decision‐making. We employed in‐depth qualitative research methods to elicit the perspectives of philanthropists on how they engaged with evidence and, in so doing, filled a gap in the data. We found barriers to utilising evidence included challenges in accessing evidence, difficulties in assessing the quality and appropriateness of evidence and insufficient resources to capture evidence. Facilitators of evidence use included: making evidence more accessible and enhanced access to professional philanthropy advice and advisors. Despite growing awareness of the importance of evidence, few donors employed sound evidence‐based models of philanthropy.

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What Platforms Mean When They Talk About Human Rights

Jørgensen¹

2017

Policy & Internet

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This article examines how staff working on two major Internet platforms—Google and Facebook—make sense of human rights such as freedom of expression and privacy. Based on interviews and online material, the article examines how the two rights are spoken of, how threats are perceived, and how the companies define their role in terms of protecting those rights. The article finds that both companies frame themselves as strongly committed to (and actively promoting) human rights. The framing, however, focuses primarily on potential human rights violations by governments, and pays less attention to areas where the companies’ own business practices may have a negative impact on their users’ rights and freedoms. While the platforms are spoken of using civic‐minded metaphors connected to people's ability to exercise rights and thus to participate in public life, the companies actually retain the freedom to set and enforce their own rules of engagement.

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Interviewing Elites

Cited by 278 publications

References 31 publications

Higher education policy architecture and policy-making in the Sultanate of Oman: towards a critical understanding

Higher education policy architecture and policy-making in the Sultanate of Oman: towards a critical understanding

Seeing is believing: A qualitative study examining how high and ultra‐high‐net‐worth donors utilise evidence to inform their giving and the barriers to and facilitators of the use of evidence

What Platforms Mean When They Talk About Human Rights

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