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Say my name? Anonymity or not in elite interviewing

Say my name? Anonymity or not in elite interviewing This article discusses anonymizing elite interviewees. Based on our experiences with interviewing professional elites and ultra-elites in different research projects, we describe how the types of conflicts involving analysis and publication change when interviewees are not promised anonymity. We discuss how contextualizing the elite positions of anonymized interviewees becomes increasingly difficult in interviews with persons who hold prestigious positions of authority and are interviewed in their official capacity. Masking interviewees can create conflicts with regard to the researcher’s presentation of results, the transparency of the research and the ability of interviewees to talk back. We show how working with non-anonymized interviewees – and even using excerpts from interviews on public radio – can be an option in qualitative research. However, non-anonymized interviews with elites should be considered only in some instances and may seriously hamper the validity of the material in other cases. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal of Social Research Methodology Taylor & Francis

Say my name? Anonymity or not in elite interviewing

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References (66)

Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
ISSN
1364-5579
eISSN
1464-5300
DOI
10.1080/13645579.2021.1932717
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This article discusses anonymizing elite interviewees. Based on our experiences with interviewing professional elites and ultra-elites in different research projects, we describe how the types of conflicts involving analysis and publication change when interviewees are not promised anonymity. We discuss how contextualizing the elite positions of anonymized interviewees becomes increasingly difficult in interviews with persons who hold prestigious positions of authority and are interviewed in their official capacity. Masking interviewees can create conflicts with regard to the researcher’s presentation of results, the transparency of the research and the ability of interviewees to talk back. We show how working with non-anonymized interviewees – and even using excerpts from interviews on public radio – can be an option in qualitative research. However, non-anonymized interviews with elites should be considered only in some instances and may seriously hamper the validity of the material in other cases.

Journal

International Journal of Social Research Methodology – Taylor & Francis

Published: Sep 3, 2022

Keywords: Confidentiality; anonymity; elite; elite interviews

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