Abstract
This chapter presents practical clues and special considerations when conducting interviews with elites and experts, especially on sensitive topics including crime and crime control. We discuss the course of the interview and ways to improve the quality of the data collected. Dimensions covered here range from how to build interaction with interviewees; how to gain trust and establish rapport; power negotiations; managing impressions; maintaining control of the interview and avoiding ‘standard corporate answers’; dealing with participants’ questions and assumptions about researchers’ own knowledge and views; asking about sensitive topics; and the physical interview setting. As in other chapters, we offer ethical reflections, especially in relation to confidentiality and anonymity of participants. Lastly, online interviewing, which may prove especially useful for elite and expert participants, is addressed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aberbach, J. D., & Rockman, B. A. (2002). Conducting and coding elite interviews. Political Science and Politics, 35(4), 673–676.
Aguiar, L. L. M., & Schneider, K. (Eds.). (2012). Researching amongst elites: Challenges and opportunities in studying up. Surrey: Ashgate.
Alvesalo-Kuusi, A., & Whyte, D. (2017). Researching the powerful: A call for the reconstruction of research ethics. Sociological Research Online, 23(1), 136–152.
Anderson, E., & Corneli, A. (2017). 100 Questions (and answers) about research ethics. London: Sage.
Beamer, G. (2002). Elite interviews and state politics research. State Politics and Policy Quarterly, 2(1), 86–96.
Berry, O. (2002). Validity and reliability issues in elite interviewing. Political Science & Politics, 35(4), 679–682.
Berry, J. M. (2003). Validity and reliability issues in elite interviewing. Political Science and Politics, 35(4), 679–682.
Bertrand, C., & Bourdeau, L. (2010). Research interviews by Skype: A new data collection method. In J. Esteves (Ed.), Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies. Madrid: IE Business School.
Bogner, A., Littig, B., & Menz, W. (2009). Interviewing experts. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Briggs, C. L. (2003). Interviewing, power/knowledge, and social inequality. In J. A. Holstein & J. F. Gubrium (Eds.), Inside interviewing: New lenses, new concerns (pp. 495–506). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Brinkmann, S. (2007). Could interviews be epistemic? An alternative to qualitative opinion polling. Qualitative Inquiry, 13(8), 1116–1138.
Cicourel, A. V. (1976). The social organization of juvenile justice. London: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.
Conti, J., & O’Neil, M. (2007). Studying power: Qualitative methods and the global elite. Qualitative Research, 7(1), 63–82.
DeLyser, D., & Sui, D. (2013). Crossing the qualitative-quantitative divide II: Inventive approaches to big data, mobile methods, and rhythmanalysis. Progress in Human Geography, 37(2), 293–305.
Dodge, M., & Geis, G. (2006). Fieldwork with the elite: Interviewing white-collar criminals. In D. Hobbs & R. Wright (Eds.), The Sage handbook of fieldwork. London: Sage.
Duke, K. (2002). Getting beyond the ‘official line’: Reflections on dilemmas of access, knowledge and power in researching policy networks. Journal of Social Policy, 31(1), 39–59.
Edwards, R., & Holland, J. (2013). What is qualitative interviewing? London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Faria, R. (2018). Research misconduct as white-collar crime: A criminological approach. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Faria, R., & Eski, Y. (2018). Een wolf onder de wolven. Ethiek en ethische commissies in criminologisch onderzoek naar ‘the powerful’. Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit, 8(3), 43–58.
Goffman, E. (1956). The presentation of self in everyday life. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh.
Goode, E. (2015). Ethical issues in the qualitative study of deviance and crime. In H. Copes & J. M. Miller (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of qualitative criminology. London: Routledge.
Gottschalk, P., & Smith, R. (2011). Criminal entrepreneurship, white-collar criminality, and neutralization theory. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 5(4), 300–308.
Harvey, W. S. (2011). Strategies for conducting elite interviews. Qualitative Research, 11(4), 431–441.
Harvey, W. S. (2010). Methodological approaches for interviewing elites. Geography Compass, 4(3), 193–205.
Hinchcliffe, V., & Gavin, H. (2009). Social and virtual networks: Evaluating synchronous online interviewing using instant messenger. The Qualitative Report, 14(2), 318–340.
Hine, C. (2000). Virtual ethnography. London: Sage.
Hochschild, J. L. (2009). Conducting intensive interviews and elite interviews. Workshop on interdisciplinary standards for systematic qualitative research. Harvard: National Science Foundation.
Israel, M., & Gelsthorpe, L. (2017). Ethics in criminological research: A powerful force, or a force for the powerful? In M. Cowburn, L. Gelsthorpe, & A. Wahidin (Eds.), Research ethics in criminology: Dilemmas, issues and solutions (pp. 185–203). London: Routledge.
Kezar, A. (2003). Transformational elite interviews: Principles and problems. Qualitative Inquiry, 9(3), 395–415.
Korsell, L. (2015). On the difficulty of measuring economic crime. In J. V. Erp, W. Huisman, & G. V. Walle (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of white-collar and corporate crime in Europe (pp. 89–105). London: Routledge.
Moore, R., & McMullan, E. C. (2009). Neutralizations and rationalizations of digital piracy: A qualitative analysis of university students. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 3(1), 441.
Morgan, D. L., & Hoffman, K. (2018). Focus groups. In U. Flick (Ed.), The Sage handbook of qualitative data collection (pp. 250–263). London: Sage.
Noaks, L., & Wincup, E. (2004). Criminological research: Understanding qualitative methods. London: Sage.
O’Gorman, A. (2009). Ethische aspecten van het kwalitatief onderzoek. In T. Decorte & D. Zaitch (Eds.). Kwalitatieve methoden en technieken in de criminologie (pp. 555–585). Leuven: Acco.
Petintseva, O. (2018). Youth justice and migration: Discursive harms. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Petintseva, O. (2019). Reflections after “Socrates light”: Eliciting and countering narratives of youth justice officials. In J. Fleetwood, L. Presser, S. Sandberg, & T. Ugelvik (Eds.), Emerald handbook of narrative criminology (pp. 87–108). London: Emerald.
Presser, L. (2009). The narratives of offenders. Theoretical Criminology, 13(2), 177–200.
Presser, L. (2013). Why we harm. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Presser, L. & Sandberg, S. (2015). Introduction: What is the story? In L. Presser & S. Sandberg (Eds.), Narrative criminology: Understanding stories of crime (pp. 1– 22). New York: New York University Press.
Richardson, P. B. (2013). Engaging the Russian elite: Approaches, methods and ethics. Politics, 34(2), 180–190.
Resch, K., & Enzenhofer, E. (2018). Collecting data in other languages—Strategies for cross-language research in multilingual societies. In U. Flick (Ed.), The Sage handbook of qualitative data collection (pp. 131–146). London: Sage.
Roulston, K., & Choi, M. (2018). Qualitative interviews. In U. Flick (Ed.), The Sage handbook of qualitative data collection. London: Sage.
Sanders, E., & Neville, L. (forthcoming). Walk this way: The impact of mobile and sensory methods on research with sex workers and street populations. Tijdschrift over Cultuur en Criminaliteit, 3/2019.
Sheller, M., & Urry, J. (2006). The new mobilities paradigm. Environment & Planning, 38, 207–226.
Siegel, D. (2008). Conversations with Russian Mafiosi. Trends in Organized Crime, 11(1), 21–29.
Siponen, M., & Vance, A. (2010). Neutralization: New insights into the problem of employee information systems security policy violations. MIS Quarterly, 1, 487–502.
Sykes, G. M., & Matza, D. (1957). Techniques of neutralization: A theory of delinquency. American Sociological Review, 22(6), 664–670.
Tewksbury, R. (2013). Qualitative methodology. In C. D. Bryant (Ed.), Routledge handbook of deviant behavior (pp. 75–81). London: Routledge.
Tromp, H. (2010). Strengthening awareness about researchers who are bringing unwelcome news. In R. In ‘t Veld (Ed.), Knowledge democracy: Consequences for science, politics and media (pp. 215–225). London: Springer.
Van Audenhove, L., & Donders, K. (2019). Expert interviews and elite interviews for policy analysis in communication studies. In H. Van den Bulck, M. Puppis, K. Donders, & L. Van Audenhove (Eds.), Handbook methods of media policy research. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wilson, M. (1997). Community in the abstract: A political and ethical dilemma. In D. Holmes (Ed.), Virtual politics identity and community in cyberspace (pp. 23–57). London: Sage.
Wesely, J. K. (2015). Negotiating identity as a qualitative researcher. In H. Copes & J. M. Miller (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of qualitative criminology (pp. 144–156). London: Routledge.
Zuckerman, H. (1972). Interviewing an ultra-elite. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 159–175.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Petintseva, O., Faria, R., Eski, Y. (2020). Conducting the Interview. In: Interviewing Elites, Experts and the Powerful in Criminology. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33000-2_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33000-2_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-32999-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-33000-2
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)