Overcoming Barriers: Qualitative Interviews with German Elites

Despite the fact that qualitative interviews are reputed to be an effective method of obtaining data from organizational elites, studies are concurrent on a number of obstacles which surround the interviewing of senior management. Problem areas flagged by the literature include issues of access and suspicion towards the interviewer as an outsider. This paper presents experiences with interviewing senior-level HR managers in German organizations. The author attempted to overcome some of the established barriers to interviewing internationals and organizational elites. However, as the paper argues, unique working experience collected in Germany gave the researcher insights into how to interact with senior German managers. In particular, the researcher drew on a previous role as a language trainer to create a method of engaging managers. The semi-structured interviews that followed were free from barriers and resulted in the gathering of rich data which enabled the researcher to better understand processes, networks and relationships

[1]  G. C. Tiao,et al.  A note on criterion robustness and inference robustness , 1964 .

[2]  Larry A. Samovar,et al.  Intercultural communication : a reader , 1972 .

[3]  G. Hofstede,et al.  Culture′s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values , 1980 .

[4]  Donald R. Cooper,et al.  Business Research Methods , 1980 .

[5]  Donald A. Sch.  The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action , 1983 .

[6]  A. Hochschild,et al.  The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. , 1985 .

[7]  C. Rainwater,et al.  Contemporary American Women Writers: Narrative Strategies , 1985 .

[8]  C. Briggs.  Learning How to Ask: A Sociolinguistic Appraisal of the Role of the Interview in Social Science Research , 1986 .

[9]  B. Latour,et al.  Power, Action and Belief. A New Sociology of Knowledge? , 1986 .

[10]  M. Callon.  Society in the making: The study of technology as a tool for sociological analysis , 1987 .

[11]  M. Hammersley.  The Paradigm Wars: reports from the front , 1992 .

[12]  Henry H. Glassie.  Turkish Traditional Art Today , 1993 .

[13]  Brief Encounters: Researching Education Policy Making in Elite Settings. , 1994 .

[14]  Richard W. Brislin,et al.  Intercultural Communication Training: An Introduction , 1994 .

[15]  J. Roschelle,et al.  Misconceptions Reconceived: A Constructivist Analysis of Knowledge in Transition , 1994 .

[16]  Henry Wai-chung Yeung,et al.  Qualitative personal interviews in international business research: Some lessons from a study of Hong Kong Transnational Corporations , 1995 .

[17]  M. Andrews.  Against Good Advice: Reflections on Conducting Research in a Country Where You Don't Speak the Language , 1995 .

[18]  C. Cooper,et al.  Executive stereotyping between cultures: the British vs. German manager , 1995 .

[19]  Joan Garfield,et al.  How students learn statistics , 1995 .

[20]  A. Alsop,et al.  Making the Most of Fieldwork Education: A Practical Approach , 1996 .

[21]  J. Laurila.  Promoting research access and informant rapport in corporate settings: Notes from research on a crisis company , 1997 .

[22]  E. Burman.  Minding the Gap: Positivism, Psychology, and the Politics of Qualitative Methods , 1997 .

[23]  Eric W. K. Tsang.  Inside Story: Mind Your Identity When Conducting Cross National Research , 1998 .

[24]  Jean-Claude Usunier,et al.  International and Cross-Cultural Management Research , 1998 .

[25]  A. Cochrane.  Illusions of Power: Interviewing Local Elites , 1998 .

[26]  Shaun McNiff,et al.  Art-Based Research , 1998 .

[27]  Tom Barone,et al.  Aesthetics, Politics, and Educational Inquiry: Essays and Examples , 2000 .

[28]  James A. Holstein,et al.  From the Individual Interview to the Interview Society , 2001 .

[29]  P. Hall,et al.  Varieties of Capitalism , 2001 .

[30]  Christian Lott,et al.  Mass Customisation , 2001 .

[31]  G. Hofstede.  Culture′s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations , 2001 .

[32]  W. Jinnings Burruss.  Adult Learning Environments: The Relationship of Light and Color in the Ambient Environment , 2001 .

[33]  R. Mack,et al.  Institutional research as a context for teaching methodological skills , 2001 .

[34]  Antinus Nijholt,et al.  Humour Research: State of Art , 2002 .

[35]  Carina Berterö,et al.  Using an interpreter in qualitative interviews: does it threaten validity? , 2002, Nursing inquiry.

[36]  Catherine Welch,et al.  Corporate elites as informants in qualitative international business research , 2002 .

[37]  Bruno Latour,et al.  THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN INNOVATION PART I: THE ART OF INTERESSEMENT , 2002 .

[38]  R. Whitfield,et al.  I don’t know much about art but I know what I like: Measuring and managing supply quality in a publishing company , 2002 .

[39]  Robert Rosenthal,et al.  Quantifying construct validity: two simple measures. , 2003 .

[40]  Adrianna Kezar,et al.  Transformational Elite Interviews: Principles and Problems , 2003 .

[41]  J. Hassard,et al.  Symmetrical Absence/Symmetrical Absurdity: Critical Notes on the Production of Actor-Network Accounts , 2004 .

[42]  Daniela Brečko.  Learning Contract : A New Tool for Managing Knowledge , 2004 .

[43]  C. Bishop,et al.  Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics , 2004, October.

[44]  Frank Bezzina.  Pupils’ understanding of probability & statistics (14-15+) difficulties and insights for instruction , 2004 .

[45]  R. Irwin,et al.  A/r/tography as Living Inquiry Through Art and Text , 2005 .

[46]  Paul T. von Hippel,et al.  Mean, Median, and Skew: Correcting a Textbook Rule , 2005 .

[47]  E. McColl.  Cognitive Interviewing. A Tool for Improving Questionnaire Design , 2006, Quality of Life Research.

[48]  Glenn Gamst,et al.  Applied Multivariate Research: Design and Interpretation , 2005 .

[49]  C. Craig,et al.  Beyond national culture: implications of cultural dynamics for consumer research , 2006 .

[50]  Anjan Chatterjee,et al.  The neuropsychology of visual art: conferring capacity. , 2006, International review of neurobiology.

[51]  S. Kvale.  Dominance Through Interviews and Dialogues , 2006 .

[52]  Rebecca Piekkari,et al.  Crossing language boundaries: Qualitative interviewing in international business , 2006 .

[53]  Jonothan Neelands,et al.  PERSONALISED LEARNING: AMBIGUITIES IN THEORY AND PRACTICE , 2007 .

[54]  Jeanne G. Harris,et al.  Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning , 2007 .

[55]  K. Delaney.  Methodological Dilemmas and Opportunities in Interviewing Organizational Elites , 2007 .

[56]  P. Altbach,et al.  The Internationalization of Higher Education: Motivations and Realities , 2007 .

[57]  Beth A. Bechky,et al.  It's More Than a Desk: Working Smarter through Leveraged Office Design , 2007 .

[58]  M. Schwartz,et al.  The Black Box of Board Process: Gaining Access to a Difficult Subject , 2007 .

[59]  Karen Estrella,et al.  Narrative Inquiry and Arts-Based Inquiry: Multinarrative Perspectives , 2007 .

[60]  J. Moses,et al.  Ways of Knowing: Competing Methodologies in Social and Political Research , 2007 .

[61]  Stuart Hannabuss.  Humour, Work and Organization , 2007 .

[62]  L. Patterson.  Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences , 2008 .

[63]  Daniel A. Newman.  Missing data techniques and low response rates: The role of systematic nonresponse parameters , 2008 .

[64]  Marie Källkvist,et al.  Personalised virtual learning spaces to support undergraduates in producing research reports: Two case studies , 2009, Internet High. Educ..

[65]  Denise Stanley.  Using Arts-Informed Inquiry as a Research Approach , 2009 .

[66]  S. McAndrew.  Method meets art: Arts‐based research practice , 2010 .

[67]  Richard J. Shavelson and Lisa Towne.  What Drives Scientific Research in Education , 2011 .

[68]  Paul Maharg,et al.  Digital games and learning: modelling learning experiences in the digital age , 2011 .

[69]  Tina Miller,et al.  Ethics in Qualitative Research (2nd ed) , 2012 .

[70]  Julie L. P. Jessop,et al.  Ethics In Qualitative Research , 2012 .

[71]  Thomas N. Garavan,et al.  Mapping talent development: definition, scope and architecture , 2012 .

[72]  Ted Buswick,et al.  The Value of Arts for Business , 2012 .

[73]  Barbara B. Kawulich,et al.  Teaching Research Methods in the Social Sciences , 2012 .

[74]  Laura Erskine,et al.  Interviewing by Telephone: Specific Considerations, Opportunities, and Challenges , 2012 .

[75]  Terry Anderson,et al.  Disruptive Pedagogies and Technologies in Universities , 2012, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[76]  H. Tohidi,et al.  Organizational culture and leadership , 2012 .

[77]  Hendrik Drachsler,et al.  Translating Learning into Numbers: A Generic Framework for Learning Analytics , 2012, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[78]  Rebecca Ferguson,et al.  Social Learning Analytics , 2012, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[79]  Mauri Kaipainen,et al.  An Ecological Approach to Learning Dynamics , 2012, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[80]  The Use of Learning Contracts in an Italian University Setting , 2013 .

[81]  Naomi S. Altman,et al.  Points of significance: Importance of being uncertain , 2013, Nature Methods.

[82]  F. Hernández,et al.  1st Conference on Arts-Based and Artistic Research. Critical reflections on the intersection between art and research , 2013 .

[83]  J. Walton,et al.  Advancing Polyphonic, Multi-Layered and Authentic Narrative Inquiry: Actor Sensemaking during Transformational Change , 2013 .

[84]  Victoria Marín Juarros,et al.  Research results of two personal learning environments experiments in a higher education institution , 2014, Interact. Learn. Environ..

[85]  Miltos Petridis,et al.  Exposing the Influencing Factors on Software Project Delay with Actor-Network Theory , 2014 .

[86]  T. Hurlimann,et al.  Evaluation of a cartoon-based knowledge dissemination intervention on scientific and ethical challenges raised by nutrigenomics/nutrigenetics research. , 2014, Evaluation and program planning.

[87]  Roger Bennett,et al.  Students’ interpretations of the meanings of questionnaire items in the National Student Survey , 2014 .

[88]  Luca Konig,et al.  A Glossary Of Literary Terms , 2016 .