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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
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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

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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
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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

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