Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T22:01:34.642Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - Interviews

Conducting and Using Interviews on and at Negotiations

from Part III - Collecting and Analysing Data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2023

By
Yulia Yamineva
Edited by
Hannah Hughes  and
Alice B. M. Vadrot
Hannah Hughes
Affiliation:
Aberystwyth University
Alice B. M. Vadrot
Affiliation:
Universität Wien, Austria
Get access

Summary

Interviewing is widely used as a method for obtaining data in research on global environmental negotiations. Interviewing in this context, however, is beset with perils and pitfalls that can befall the unsuspecting researcher new to the setting. This chapter discusses how interviews can support the study of environmental agreement-making. It first explains different types of research interviews and then guides the researcher through various stages of interviewing, offering practical tips and suggestions. The chapter explains the specifics of interviewing at and on negotiation sites, sampling approaches, access to respondents, interviewer’s effect, conduct of the interview, interview data analysis, and research ethics considerations. The chapter also recounts the author’s experiences of interviewing for PhD research on the IPCC in 2006–2009, as well as including two reflection boxes by Alice Vadrot on oral history interviews and narrative interviews as alternative approaches in the study of global environmental agreement-making.

Keywords

semistructured interviewselite interviewingexpert interviewing
Type
Chapter
Information
Conducting Research on Global Environmental Agreement-Making , pp. 168 - 185
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Reading

1.Burnham, P., Gilland Lutz, K., Grant, W. and Layton-Henry, Z. (2008). Elite Interviewing. In Burnham, P., Gilland Lutz, K, Grant, W, and Layton-Henry, Z (eds.), Research Methods in Politics. 1st ed. Basingstoke: Red Globe Press, pp. 231–46.Google Scholar
The chapter is an accessible and relatively short introduction to the technique and various steps of elite interviewing for political science research.Google Scholar
2.Korkea-Aho, E. and Leino, P. (2019). Interviewing Lawyers: A Critical Self-Reflection on Expert Interviews as a Method of EU Legal Research. European Journal of Legal Studies 12, 17–47.Google Scholar
This paper discusses the personal experiences of the authors – who are legal researchers – in respect of expert interviews.Google Scholar
3.Mosley, L., ed. (2013). Interview Research in Political Science. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
The book aims to provide a comprehensive guide to graduate students and faculty on interview-based research in political science.Google Scholar

References

Aberbach, J. D. and Rockman, B. A. (2002). Conducting and Coding Elite Interviews. PS: Political Science and Politics 35(4), 673–6.Google Scholar
Allan, J. I. (2020). The New Climate Activism: NGO Authority and Participation in Climate Change Governance. Toronto: Toronto University Press.Google Scholar
Berry, J. M. (2002). Validity and Reliability Issues In Elite Interviewing. PS: Political Science & Politics 35(4),679–82.Google Scholar
Bogner, A., Littig, B. and Menz, W., eds. (2009). Interviewing Experts. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Burnham, P., Gilland, K. Grant, W. and Layton-Henry, Z. (2008). Research Methods in Politics. 1st ed. Basingstoke: Red Globe Press.Google Scholar
Dexter, L. A. (1970). Elite and Specialized Interviewing. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Doel, R. E. (2003). Oral History of American Science: A Forty-Year Review. History of Science 41(4),349–78.Google Scholar
Funtowicz, S. and Ravetz, J. (1996). Global Risk, Uncertainty, and Ignorance. In Kasperson, J. and Kasperson, R., eds., Global Environmental Risk. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, pp. 173–94.Google Scholar
George, A. L. and Bennett, A. (2005). Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Goldstein, K. (2002). Getting in the Door: Sampling and Completing Elite Interviews. PS: Political Science and Politics 35(4),669–72.Google Scholar
Hughes, H. and Vadrot, A. (2019). Weighting the World: IPBES and the Struggle over Biocultural Diversity. Global Environmental Politics 19(2),14–37.Google Scholar
Korkea-Aho, E. and Leino, P. (2019). Interviewing Lawyers: A Critical Self-Reflection on Expert Interviews as a Method of EU Legal Research. European Journal of Legal Studies 12,17–47.Google Scholar
Leech, B. L. (2002). Asking Questions: Techniques for Semistructured Interviews. Political Science and Politics 35(4),665–8.Google Scholar
Pierce, R. (2008). Research Methods in Politics: A Practical Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Shopes, L. (2014). ‘Insights and Oversights’: Reflections on the Documentary Tradition and the Theoretical Turn in Oral History. The Oral History Review 41(2),257–68.Google Scholar
Stephens, N. (2007). Collecting Data from Elites and Ultra Elites: Telephone and Face-to-Face Interviews with Macroeconomists. Qualitative Research 7(2),203–6.Google Scholar
Suganami, H. (1999). Agents, Structures, Narratives. European Journal of International Relations 5(3),365–86.Google Scholar
Toussaint, P. (2021). Loss and Damage and Climate Litigation: The Case for Greater Interlinkage. Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law 30(1),16–33.Google Scholar
Vadrot, A. B. M. (2014). The Politics of Knowledge and Global Biodiversity. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Weiner, C. (1988). Oral History of Science: A Mushrooming Cloud? The Journal of American History 75(2), 548–59.Google Scholar
Yamineva, Y. (2017). Lessons from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Inclusiveness across Geographies and Stakeholders. Environmental Science & Policy 77,244–51.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×