Interviewing Jihadists: On the Importance of Drinking Tea and Other Methodological Considerations

Online news media and propaganda influence on radicalized individuals: Findings from interviews with Islamist prisoners and former Islamists

“…In addition, we also interviewed 10 former Islamists (“scene-leavers”), whom we considered to be experts with privileged access to relevant information about internal group processes (Horgan, 2012; Meuser and Nagel, 2009). We assumed that—compared to individuals who were still strongly radicalized—former Islamists would talk more critically and openly about their experiences with Islamism (Baugut and Neumann, 2019c; Nilsson, 2018; Neumann et al., 2018). At a minimum, comparisons of their answers provided us with opportunities to validate (or fail to validate) our radicalized participants’ statements.…”

“…After all of the interviews had been conducted, the red flags were reanalyzed. To minimize the risk of overgeneralizing our participants’ subjective experiences and interpretations, and to take into account the possibility of strategic answering behaviors, we compared the extent to which different participants’ answers validated or conflicted with each other (Nilsson, 2018). All in all, we identified five contradictions (i.e.…”

Motivations for Jihad and Cognitive Dissonance – A Qualitative Analysis of Former Swedish Jihadists

“…Such statements can be filtered out by focusing on research questions that do not deal with motivations. 36 However, when interviewing active jihadists, the need to have a critical attitude to one's sources is more crucial than it is in some other fields of research in which the respondents have a better ability to reflect on their experiences or can be trusted more.…”

Watching ISIS: How Young Adults Engage with Official English-Language ISIS Videos

“…In addition to this, there would also be the very real risk of interference from law enforcement agencies, who may request to see any data gathered under terrorism laws. 10 Potential interviewees would also be sensitive to this possibility, 11 and hence it is highly unlikely that they would participate in a research study that not only implied they were "vulnerable" to terrorism, but also put them at risk of arrest or interference from the authorities. Of the three core questions about JOP identified above, (3)-how is it received by the audiences it is intended to shake up, berate or terrorize?-remains the most underresearched in terrorism studies.…”