Studying Elites Using Qualitative Methods [Paperback]

The very nature of elites makes them difficult for social researchers to study. This volume provides valuable insights into how researchers can successfully gain access to elite settings. Using their actual experiences, the contributors provide constructive advice as well as cautionary tales about how they learned to manoeuvre and become accepted in worlds otherwise closed to them.

Three broad research areas are covered: business elites; professional elites; and community and political elites. Useful information is given on how researchers in these areas can gather data, construct interview strategies, write about their subjects and come to experience the research process.The very nature of elites makes them difficult for social researchers to study. This volume provides valuable insights into how researchers can successfully gain access to elite settings. Using their actual experiences, the contributors provide constructive advice as well as cautionary tales about how they learned to manoeuvre and become accepted in worlds otherwise closed to them.

Three broad research areas are covered: business elites; professional elites; and community and political elites. Useful information is given on how researchers in these areas can gather data, construct interview strategies, write about their subjects and come to experience the research process.Introduction - Rosanna Hertz and Jonathan B Imber
PART ONE: BUSINESS ELITES
Interviewing Important People in Big Companies - Robert J Thomas
Reaching Corporate Executives - Michael Useem
Fielding Hot Topics in Cool Settings - Peter Cleary Yeager and Kathy E Kram
The Study of Corporate Ethics
Using Electronic Media to Support Fieldwork in a Corporate Setting - John P Workman Jr
Tales from the Field - Paul M Hirsch
Learning from Researchers' Accounts
PART TlC.