Session Information
23 SES 06 D, Methodological Issues in the Analysis of Education Policy
Paper Session
Contribution
This presentation aims to methodologically discuss the possibilities and difficulties in conducting elite interviews from a methodological viewpoint. The chapter sets out to analyse power relations between the interviewer and the interviewee in education policy interviews, which in this study are conducted with the power elite of education in Finland and Denmark. Power is understood as a relational and embedded in the social space (Bourdieu 1985). The purpose of an interview is understood to create an understanding of the participants’ interpretation of the phenomena under study. Regarding this what is discussed and acknowledged in this study is that an interview situation is always asymmetrical (Ozga & Gewirtz 1994) in power but that the power relation may change between the interviewer and interviewee before, during and after the interview (Kosunen & Kauko 2016). Some aspects of asymmetry, such as physical qualities or cultural background are unchangeable, despite their roles seem to get negotiated in the interviewing process. In addition, the interviewer may apply certain techniques to overcome the asymmetries or use them to gain rich research material as long as this is within research-ethical guidelines.
This study concentrates on discussions concerning the politics of basic education in Nordic countries, and more specifically, in Finland, Denmark and Iceland. The aim is to conduct interviews with the power elite of education (n≈30; politicians, policy-makers, high level administration and long-term researchers) and construct an image of how has the comprehensive school in each of these countries developed. General issues concerning elite interviews and comparative studies emerge. Elite interviews are often considered as very specific kind of interviews, as the interviewees have a lot of power: this shows especially in elite easily declining access, meaning, not accepting to participate in an interview. In addition, in terms of comparative studies and their methodology, the aim here is to position the study in a relevant space-time, as Nóvoa and Yariv-Mashal (2003) suggest, and to avoid making de-contextualised comparisons (see Steiner-Khamsi 2009) when contrasting the fields of education in different countries. In any case, when methodologically reflecting on the relation of the interviewer and the interviewee in each country-case, questions concerning the differences concerning social position, age, gender, ethnicity and spoken language are reflected upon, as an interview is never considered to be a ‘neutral’ situation from an intersectional perspective (see Rapley 2007).
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bourdieu, P. 1985. The social space and the genesis of groups. Theory and Society 14(6), 723-744. Kosunen, S. & Kauko, J. (2016) Valtasuhteet tutkimushaastattelussa. Politiikka. [Power relations in research interviews.] Nóvoa, A. N. & Yariv-Mashal, T. 2003. Comparative research in education: A mode of governance or a historical journey? Comparative Education 39(4), 423-438. Ozga, J. & Gewirtz, S. 1994. Sex, Lies and Audiotape: Interviewing the Education Policy Elite. In Researching Education Policy: Ethical and Methodological Issues. London: Falmer, 121–138. Rapley, T. 2007. Interviews. In C. Seale, G, Gobo, J. F. Gubrium & D. Silverman (eds.) Qualitative Research Practice. London: Sage. Steiner-Khamsi, G. 2009. Comparison: Quo Vadis? In R. Cowen & A. M. Kazamias (eds.) International Handbook of Comparative Education. Netherlands: Springer Netherlands, 1141-1158.
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