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Interviewing Elites: Key Questions for Research Design

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Modes of Politicization in the Irish Civil Service
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Abstract

The research undertaken is designed as a descripto-explanatory study of the politicization of the Irish civil service consisting of a review of the literature surrounding politicization in Westminster systems of government and primary research using elite interviews with retired Cabinet-level Ministers and retired Secretaries General of Irish government departments. There are a number of key issues facing the researcher when designing a research project involving elite interviewees. These issues—research philosophy, researcher values, threats to validity, sample selection and data quality—are all vital to the success of research of this nature.

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Mac Cormaic, A. (2016). Interviewing Elites: Key Questions for Research Design. In: Modes of Politicization in the Irish Civil Service. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33282-6_2

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