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The Theory-Generating Expert Interview: Epistemological Interest, Forms of Knowledge, Interaction
Abstract
Expert interviews are a good example of the way in which the everyday practice of social research and theoretical consideration of this practice do not always run parallel to one another. The use of particular methods sometimes precedes their general theoretical reflection. For many years, the widely held view was that expert interviews were conducted frequently but only rarely thought through (Meuser and Nagel, 1991). Only in recent years has the debate about expert interviews gradually become more concrete (see Bogner and Menz, 2008). However, this has certainly not led to a situation in which the different definitions and methodological conceptions of expert interviews have moved closer together. Even today there are disputes not only about how expert interviews can be placed on a secure methodological footing, but also about whether this is even possible in principle.
... Because the phenomenon the researcher investigated involves human behaviour, it is complex and contextually driven, and it is impacted by the sociocultural environment where such entrepreneurial activities are conducted (Fredriksen & Hadjerrouit, 2019). The expert interview qualitative research approach (Bogner & Menz, 2009;D€ oringer, 2021;Libakova & Sertakova, 2015) is a type of qualitative research methodology that guarantees "[an] empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context" (Yin, 2009, p. 18). This method of qualitative research "aims at exploring or collecting data about a specific field of interest" (D€ oringer, 2021, p. 265), by focusing on the experts who are deeply immersed in the development and operation of the phenomenon being investigated. ...
... This method of qualitative research "aims at exploring or collecting data about a specific field of interest" (D€ oringer, 2021, p. 265), by focusing on the experts who are deeply immersed in the development and operation of the phenomenon being investigated. To gain valuable insights into the process of digital entrepreneurship development, the researcher will be seeking the knowledge and experiences of third-party application developers who are considered experts in this field (Bogner & Menz, 2009). To understand the entrepreneurial behaviour of thirdparty developers, the researcher was enlightened by the interpretive paradigm, which is commonly adopted in qualitative research (e.g. ...
... To understand the entrepreneurial behaviour of thirdparty developers, the researcher was enlightened by the interpretive paradigm, which is commonly adopted in qualitative research (e.g. Bogner & Menz, 2009;Boudreau & Robey, 2005;D€ oringer, 2021;Kim, Kim, & Lee, 2009;Levina & Vaast, 2008;Moe, Dingsøyr, & Dyb a, 2010). This philosophical paradigm offers valuable insights into the behaviour of third-party developers as they engage in activities that promote ideation and product/service development in the digital entrepreneurship processes. ...
Purpose-The study aims to embrace the lingering call for more empirical studies that can theorize the role of digital platforms in digital entrepreneurship. Hence, this study seeks to reveal the liminal space entrepreneurial experience of third-party application developers, by investigating how the platform boundary resources promote third-party entrepreneurial actions, as they transition through the disoriented, uncertain and ambiguous processes of digital entrepreneurship development. Design/methodology/approach-To conduct this investigation, an expert interview qualitative method was used. This approach is a well-established technique in the field of social sciences, which allowed a detailed exploration of the theory of liminality. Liminality refers to the transitional phase that individuals or groups experience when moving from one social or cultural context to another. The expert interview method is appropriate for this study because it involves engaging with knowledgeable individuals who have extensive experience and expertise in the subject area being investigated. Through in-depth and unstructured interviews, the experts were able to provide valuable insights and perspectives about the phenomenon investigated. Findings-The research findings demonstrate that digital platform boundary resources play a significant role in the behaviour of third-party developers' who engage in the development of digital entrepreneurship in today's market. The study highlights three ways that show how these resources (software development kit (SDK), API, integrated development environment (IDE), libraries, frameworks) enable third-party developers to create new applications that are used to pursue entrepreneurship in a digital platform, leading to increased user engagement and revenue generation. Originality/value-The research addresses the critical roles of digital platform boundary resources in digital entrepreneurship development processes. Also, using liminality theory, the research explicated the core experiences of third-party developers as they navigated the challenges and ambiguities experienced in the pursuit of entrepreneurship. Thus, contributing to the existing body of knowledge in literature and practice.
... Expert interviews have been regarded as one of the main qualitative data-gathering techniques for system modeling (Kim and Andersen 2012). To assemble the data for the present study, we used semi-structured systematizing expert interviews (Bogner and Menz 2009). The interviews allowed us to explore experts' mental models, that is, their interpretive knowledge, consisting of subjective perceptions of reality, viewpoints, or perspectives (Kim and Andersen 2012). ...
... The interviews allowed us to explore experts' mental models, that is, their interpretive knowledge, consisting of subjective perceptions of reality, viewpoints, or perspectives (Kim and Andersen 2012). Interpretivist knowledge is often implicit; it can be elicited through abstraction and systematization (Bogner and Menz 2009). ...
... We purposefully targeted individuals who occupied higher management paid or voluntary decision-making positions, had experience in developing and implementing agendas and policies regarding sustainable development, and were still active at the time when the interviews were conducted. With these inclusion criteria, we aimed to ensure that the experts had the process knowledge obtained through their direct involvement, practical experience, and, most importantly, interpretive knowledge (Bogner and Menz 2009). The organizations' international character was reflected in their global, continental, or multinational level of operation. ...
... Tyrimo strategija. Duomenims rinkti pasitelktas kokybinio tyrimo modelis -ekspertų nuomonės metodas, kuris leidžia kurti prognozes tais atvejais, kai informacijos apie tyrimo objektą nėra daug, paaiškinti veiksnius, darančius įtaką įvairių socialinių sistemų plėtrai (Bogner & Menz, 2009). Šis metodas suteikia validumo ir patikimumo, pasitelkia geriausiai tam tikrą sritį išmanančių asmenų perspektyvą (Bogner & Menz, 2009;Cohen et al., 2007). ...
... Duomenims rinkti pasitelktas kokybinio tyrimo modelis -ekspertų nuomonės metodas, kuris leidžia kurti prognozes tais atvejais, kai informacijos apie tyrimo objektą nėra daug, paaiškinti veiksnius, darančius įtaką įvairių socialinių sistemų plėtrai (Bogner & Menz, 2009). Šis metodas suteikia validumo ir patikimumo, pasitelkia geriausiai tam tikrą sritį išmanančių asmenų perspektyvą (Bogner & Menz, 2009;Cohen et al., 2007). Meuser ir Nagel (2009) apibūdina ekspertą kaip plataus akiračio asmenį, tiriamame lauke turintį specialių žinių ir aukštesnę kvalifikaciją nei vidutinis potencialus tyrimo dalyvis. ...
... However, this research strand has often overlooked actual changes in the material stocks of buildings and infrastructure (Hersperger et al., 2018). Expert interviews can be used to identify drivers that influence spatially explicit settlement dynamics in an intersubjective process by tapping into their 'contextual knowledge' of past and current events and the socio-political conditions in which these dynamics occur (see for example Bogner and Menz, 2009). These different knowledge typesspatially explicit settlement dynamics and qualitative expert assessments of its driversare, however, not often studied in an integrated manner (Hersperger et al., 2018). ...
... We conducted the interviews between May and October 2022 ( Table 2). The goal was to create an interactive interview setting facilitating an intersubjective exchange of knowledge and information about the specialist field in question (Bogner and Menz, 2009). The interviews lasted approximately one and a half hours each and were recorded as memory logs. ...
The spatial arrangement of settlements constitutes a long-lasting legacy and shapes the prospects for transformations toward sustainability. Thus, understanding the drivers of changes in settlement patterns is essential. In this article, we present a spatially explicit, geostatistical analysis of settlement dynamics, and a qualitative investigation of its regulative, demographic, and economic drivers, using the example of Vienna, Austria between 1984 and 2018. Combining spatially explicit metrics of urban sprawl and cluster analysis, we analyzed high-resolution maps of buildings, population, and jobs to identify distinct settlement trajectories. Societal drivers of more or less sprawled settlement dynamics are analyzed with desk research and expert interviews. We distinguish five types of settlement dynamics: persistently dense areas with increasing use intensity, re-densification of dense areas, persistently sprawled areas, redensification of sprawled areas, and persistently isolated buildings. Urban renewal schemes have fostered the re-densification of dense areas in response to population growth and urban economic restructuring. The combination of urban renewal schemes and green space policies has successfully limited urban expansion. Challenges arise from the demand for single-family housing and corresponding zoning regulations. These factors solidify existing sprawled settlements, posing obstacles to the efficient re-densification of such areas crucial for sustainable urban development.
... The use of a panel of experts in the standard setting process evokes some of the debate in sociology concerning the use of expert interviews as methodology. Bogner and Menz (2009) draw our attention to the fact that interviewers have interests outside of the research question and these interests tend to surface during the interviews. Therefore, there will be differences between conversations with experts, what surfaces due to these differences, and differences with how the conversation is interpreted. ...
... This finding highlights the continuing issue of the need to undergird social theory with empirical findings (Smith & Atkinson, 2016). It also connects with the work of Bogner and Menz (2009) on the use of expert interviews for an exploratory tool. Note that the use of a panel of experts for the standard setting process typically entails multiple rounds of discussion to reach consensus around the given task. ...
BECO designed an Equity Audit tool to measure racial diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within workplaces. The tool has three versions (K-12 schools, For-Profits, and Non-Profits) and is currently undergoing the Standard Setting Process. This study reports on quantitative and qualitative findings for For-Profits and Non-Profits and by doing so, extends the conversation regarding the theoretical, empirical, and practical issues we encounter with the social reality of DEI work. Empirical findings via confirmatory factor analyses reveal at least reasonable fit of the tool which supports the measurement theory undergirding the tool. Qualitative findings demonstrate mixed opinions among experts as to how diversity, equity, and inclusion constructs relate, thus highlighting the unclarity about how we should engage in DEI work in workplaces. Altogether, we discuss findings in relation to the call for empirical work to ground sociological theories and constructs, and the extent to which progression in the field of diversity management aligns with the success and sustainability of DEI work.
... Importantly, each interviewee brought experience in both theoretical and practical aspects of urban and suburban planning. The primary objective was to facilitate an interactive interview format that encouraged an intersubjective exchange of knowledge and information pertinent to the specialized field under investigation (Bogner and Menz, 2009). The interviews were carried out in February 2024, numbered from 1 to 7 (Table 3). ...
Processes of urban development progressing across Europe, with built-up areas expanding at a faster rate than the population, especially in the Central and Eastern Europe region. The importance of ensuring a high quality of urban life and effective environmental planning is widely acknowledged for the sustainable development of functional urban areas. While the literature extensively covers the implementation stage of monofunctional development in Polish suburban zones, the origins of spatial homogeneity in planning have received limited attention in research. This paper aims to assess local zoning plans and examine the diversity of urban planning in the subregion of Wroclaw, Poland. Employing exploratory experts interviews and landscape metrics such as Patch Richness Density and Simpson Diversity Index, along with spatial statistics as the Hot Spot tool and Cluster and Outlier analysis, the findings reveal that monofunctional residential development in Polish functional urban areas may result from a complex interplay of various economic, institutional, educational, professional responsibility, and political, social, as well as historical factors on the urban planning stage. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of the extent and spatial distribution of planning diversity, opening paths for further discussions on the professional requirements of urban planners.
... To collect actionable knowledge from a pragmatic perspective, the interviewer was considered part of the knowledge production process and, thus, required to reflexively react in situ for uncovering situational properties of the experts' statements. To ensure such a dialogic-discursive conversation at "eye-level" (Pfadenhauer, 2009, p. 95), the main interviewer as quasi-expert needed to be familiar with the field (e.g., technical terminology; Bogner & Menz, 2009). Therefore, all interviews were conducted by the first author, a fulltime sports science researcher who additionally holds the UEFA A-License and has several years of soccer coaching experience. ...
Providing optimal learning support is a major challenge within talent development settings. To accomplish this challenge, practitioners’ decisions, and actions should be informed by a blend of practical experiences and academic knowledge. This study explored experts’ recommendations on how to facilitate learning in elite adolescent soccer players during practice. Special focus was dedicated to why certain practice and coaching approaches were recommended to better understand experts’ justifications. Eighteen semistructured interviews were conducted with international experts representing three complementary groups of expertise (i.e., six of each soccer coaches; coach educators/developers; and researchers in talent development, motor learning, or coaching pedagogy). By employing a reflexive thematic analysis three themes were constructed: (I) differentiating overarching learning goals to address players’ individual needs, (II) designing purposeful training sessions with the game in mind, and (III) coaching interventions to support player learning within a group environment. Overall, the experts recommended the complementary use of different practice and coaching strategies to address individual learning needs. While some strategies may be associated with conflicting theoretical paradigms and established pedagogical approaches, the findings inform a purposeful integration of those different approaches in practical work. Therefore, participants’ recommendations can be discussed by integrating interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives.
... Aangezien de implementatie van blended leren in hoger onderwijs raakt aan alle facetten van een organisatie, gingen we op zoek naar experten die in sterke mate kennis hebben van zowel het concept blended leren als van veranderingsprocessen in hoger onderwijs. Uit literatuur weten we dat experts (Bogner & Menz, 2009;Littig, 2011;Van Audenhove & Donders, 2019): ...
Blended en online leren zijn niet meer weg te denken uit hoger onderwijs. Reeds voor de coronacrisis maakte blended leren deel uit van hoger onderwijs. De shift naar online onderwijs als gevolg van de coronacrisis heeft alle hoger onderwijsinstellingen abrupt doen schakelen naar volledig online onderwijs. Daardoor kwamen alle betrokkenen onder druk te staan. Echter, ongeacht de technologische evoluties blijft de docent centraal staan in elk veranderingsproces. Dit artikel vat twee onderzoeken rond blended en online leren vanuit docentenperspectief samen. Twaalf Vlaamse experten blended leren gaven al voor de coronacrisis hun kijk op cruciale docentkenmerken die de implementatie van blended leren beïnvloeden. En focusgroepen met 32 universitaire docenten brachten inzicht in hoe zij online onderwijs ervaarden tijdens Covid-19, en wat die ervaringen beïnvloedde. Tot slot plaatsen we de cruciale docentkenmerken-door de experten reeds voor de coronacrisis benoemd-in het licht van online onderwijs tijdens de pandemie. Blended en online leren in het hoger onderwijs: de docent doet ertoe!
... The regional project "FuoriSuoloSmart" is included in a series of initiatives aimed at mechanizing Greenhouse irrigation in the Italian region Liguria. We started from 11 interviews [4] which saw seven academics from the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Pisa (Italy) in the role of experts [8] regarding the practices and knowledge of plants 'growers in greenhouses. ...
With this contribution, we would like to contextualize an IoT and Artificial Intelligence project in the current work practices of greenhouse growers. The project follows the user-centered design process in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. We carried out user studies by interviewing experts competent in greenhouse work. In particular, we asked ourselves how practices, perceptions, and cognitions change following the introduction of technologies in the greenhouse. The qualitative work on the interviews allowed us to isolate some constants that will subsequently bring us to improve the usability of the technologies to support growers, taking into account their particular professional skills.
... Exploratory expert interviews constitute a suitable method for gaining tacit knowledge, especially in conceptually fuzzy fields such as the one discussed in this article Ecosystem approach in public management (Bogner and Menz, 2009). We conducted six such interviews between April 2020 and November 2022, including five City of Espoo employees and one local councilor. ...
Purpose
This article investigates the practical implementation of the ecosystem approach in different branches of public management within an urban context. It explores how ecosystem thinking is introduced, disseminated and applied in a local government organization.
Design/methodology/approach
We utilize a qualitative case study methodology, relying on official documents and expert interviews. Our study focuses on the city of Espoo, Finland, which has actively embraced ecosystem thinking as a fundamental framework for its organizational development for almost a decade.
Findings
The case of Espoo highlights elements that have not been commonly attributed to the ecosystem approach in the public sector. These elements include (1) the significance of complementary services, (2) the existence of both collaborative and competitive relationships among actors in public service ecosystems and (3) the utilization of digital platforms for resource orchestration. Our study also emphasizes the need for an incremental adoption of ecosystem thinking in organizational contexts to enable its successful implementation.
Originality/value
The study provides valuable insights into the introduction and dissemination of ecosystem thinking in public management. It also further develops previously developed hypotheses regarding public service ecosystems.
... Interviews Döringer80 (2021) introduced the problem-centred expert interview approach as a combination of theorygenerated expert interviews which apply analytical and interpretative perspectives to outline and develop theoretical approaches81 (Bogner & Menz, 2009) and the problem-centred interview approach that enables a process-oriented and joint re nement of the problem82 (Murray, 2016). Problem-centred expert interviews can be applied in scenarios where the individual agency of experts contributes to a broader and more complex investigation, such as in policy analysis80 (Döringer, 2021). ...
Significant increase in shipping in the Arctic has caught international and national attention. The rising presence of touristic expedition cruise vessels might describe a special case for noise-emitting activities while they seek exclusive opportunities to experience the Arctic first-hand. This interdisciplinary study explores the sources and potential impacts of shipping noise from cruise expeditions in the Arctic and how this knowledge can assist policymakers and industry in increasing environmental safety. The study provides a comprehensive overview of context-specific noise emissions from Arctic cruise expeditions and potential adverse consequences for Arctic endemic marine mammals. In addition, it discusses governance options for mitigating these consequences. Internationally, legal adaptations in the shipping conventions MARPOL and SOLAS should recognise noise as harmful energy. In turn, this could facilitate the uptake of certification schemes based on noise levels in the Polar Code. These legal actions can be strengthened by extended collective self-governance and through introducing economic incentives at the port level.
... Semi-structured in-depth expert interviews composed the study's main data source. The expert interview method was considered most appropriate given the Indigenous context (Libakova and Sertakova 2015) and the very few individuals with historical knowledge of the OSP over its 20-year trajectory (Bogner andMenz 2009, von Soest 2023). The selection of interviewees was based on criterion sampling, the most important criterion being the longitudinal knowledge of OSP's evolution and implementation. ...
... Semi-structured expert interviews are particularly suitable for supporting the explorative character of a study (Magaldi & Bergler, 2020, p. 4852). This interview form is especially relevant for exploration and orientation in a new field, for understanding this field, to contribute to the development of thematic structures and the generation of hypotheses (Bogner & Menz, 2009, cited after Flick, 2022. Based on the characteristics of semi-standardised expert interviews, this survey method was used in conjunction with the literature review to provide an orientation, initial findings and hypotheses on the state of institutionalised TVET research in Costa Rica, as well as to draw hypotheses on needs, challenges and future recommendations for action based on the evaluation results. ...
Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Costa Rica is considered as an important alternative for the insertion of the young population into the labor market. However, despite the increasing importance of TVET there is a lack of institutionalized research activities, so that research efforts on TVET mainly remain in the background. The aim of this paper is to present and examine the level of institutionalization of TVET research in Costa Rica and the associated needs, challenges, and demands. Therefore, qualitative research, with an exploratory scope, was conducted between December 2022 and June 2023, for which a literature review on TVET research and semi-structured interviews with sixteen experts were carried out. The results revealed, that from 2020 to date, there has been an increase in the number of research activities in TVET and in the number of publications in Costa Rican journals. Nevertheless, TVET institutions in Costa Rica show low capacities in terms of personnel and financial resources to conduct TVET research. The main conclusion is that the level of institutionalization of TVET Research in Costa Rica is in its infancy, but has potential for growth, for which it is necessary to establish public TVET policies that include TVET research.
... The data was collected using the exploratory expert interview that is recognised as a suitable approach to ''gain knowledge or orientation in unknown or hardly known fields'' (Bogner and Menz, 2009;Döringer, 2021). This research builds on top of research of humans in automation, for example of supervising an autopilot in aviation or supervising nuclear power plants. ...
The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) defines Conditional Automated Driving (CAD) or SAE level 3 as the next step in the transition to higher automated driving. A human factors challenge at this level is to keep the fallback-ready user aware of the driving situation. The problem with the widely accepted terminology of SAE is that it does not consider the human factors of achieving this safety-critical transition and lacks in defining a required or appropriate state of fallback readiness and how a human reaches this state. This paper aims to understand how research and industry currently perceive the problem and how they counteract it. We conducted exploratory expert interviews with N = 15 subject matter experts from universities, research centres and vehicle manufacturers. Based on the findings of the expert interviews, we discuss how fallback-ready users might be kept in the loop. The results show that the user should remain physically and sensory in the state of regular drivers to allow a safe transition, which narrows down the problem to maintaining an appropriate cognitive state, level of arousal, and motivational conditions. Lastly, the experts identify that the NDRA should be (a) limited to the onboard-entertainment system and (b) context-aware and (temporarily) restricted or interrupted. We provide concrete design recommendations grounded in (or drawing upon) theoretical frameworks and current human factors expert views and highlight specific challenges that require more research.
... The interviewees were from research institutions (9), the private sector (4), and the government (1), spanning a broad range of backgrounds in politics, economics, technology, business, humanities, and natural sciences ( Table 2). The interviews were qualitative, semi-structured, and explorative (Bogner and Menz 2009;Döringer 2020) to allow the interviewee to focus on the issues that he/she felt were most important. The interviews started with the interviewer introducing the study, explaining CBIs, the impact pathways, and the socioeconomic characteristics of the different SSPs, if needed. ...
The world is currently in the midst of an energy transition, in which renewable and low-carbon energy is replacing the use of fossil fuels. Along the way, however, planning for and adapting to impacts of climate change is urgently needed, as these are projected to intensify in the future, despite ambitious mitigation efforts. Since the low-carbon energy transition is likely to involve many international interdependencies and connections between countries and regions, assessments of cross-border impacts of climate change, i.e., consequences of climate change that occur remotely from the location of their initial impact, are of utmost importance to ensure the decarbonisation of society is safe and sustainable. This paper utilises expert interviews and a general morphological analysis with the shared socioeconomic pathways to situate national decarbonisation efforts within a global context and identify cross-border impacts of climate change that may affect the energy transition, using the Finnish energy sector as a case study. Interestingly, many of the global development trends that were found to have a boosting effect on the Finnish energy transition, also increased the risk from cross-border climate change impacts, stressing the importance of rigorous adaptation planning. The findings affirm the need for studying national energy transitions from a global perspective and highlight the tendency of climate change impacts to be transmitted across borders via complex pathways. The study offers valuable insights into the importance of cross-border impacts for adaptation planning pertinent to any country or region currently engaged, or planning to engage, in the global low-carbon transition.
... It has revolutionized teaching and learning (Collins & Halverson, 2018;Green & Gilbert, 1995;Kaddoura & Al Husseiny, 2023). From online classes to digital textbooks, technology has created new opportunities for students to access and interact with educational content (Bogner & Menz, 2009;Jacob & Furgerson, 2012;Gustafsson & Ollila, 2003). According to Green and Gilbert (1995), technology has enhanced learning skills and allowed students to learn at their own pace. ...
This study delves into the intricate landscape of metaverse technology adoption within higher education institutions in the UAE, investigating the multifaceted interplay of accessibility, technology adaptability, and policies and regulations. Using a cross-sectional research design, data was meticulously collected through a multistage sampling approach, combining probability and non-probability methods. A pretested questionnaire underwent rigorous evaluation, ensuring un-biased item formulation and adherence to best practices. The investigation challenges and extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by revealing unexpected findings. The absence of a significant relationship between accessibility and metaverse adoption prompts a call for an expanded TAM framework. Surprisingly, a negative correlation between technology adaptability and adoption is highlighted, emphasizing the need for a cautious assimilation approach. Moreover, the research underscores the influential role of policies and regulations in metaverse adoption, advocating for a comprehensive TAM framework that encompasses regulatory dynamics. Findings offer practical implications for stakeholders, policymakers, and institutions, emphasizing diverse adoption facets beyond accessibility. The study contributes to the discourse on metaverse adoption and advances theoretical frameworks for technology integration within educational contexts. The methodology's meticulous design underscores the study's rigor, ensuring the robustness of the insights gleaned from the investigation.
... Experts are individuals who have an "institutionalized authority to construct reality" (Meuser and Nagel, 2009). Accordingly, experts in this study consist of individuals who are chief information security officers (CISOs) or equivalent who oversee the cybersecurity of the organization (Bogner and Menz, 2009). According to Egfjord and Sund (2020), the recommended panel size for a Delphi study is between 10 and 15 participants. ...
Zero trust cybersecurity is beginning to replace traditional perimeter-based security strategies and is being adopted by organizations across a wide range of industries. However, the implementation of zero trust is a complex undertaking, different from traditional perimeter-based security, and requires a fresh approach in terms of its management. As such, a clear set of critical success factors (CSFs) will help organizations to better plan, assess, and manage their zero trust cybersecurity. In response, we investigated the CSFs for implementing zero trust cybersecurity by conducting a three-round Delphi study to obtain the consensus from a panel of 12 cybersecurity experts. We built a multi-dimensional CSFs framework that comprises eight dimensions, namely identity, endpoint, application and workload, data, network, infrastructure, visibility and analytics, and automation and orchestration. Based on the CSFs, we developed a maturity assessment framework enabling organizations to evaluate their zero trust maturity. This paper contributes to a theoretical understanding of how to deploy zero trust from multiple dimensions and offers a viable guidance framework for organizations from a practical perspective. This paper is useful for organizational stakeholders who are in the process of planning, reviewing, or implementing zero trust cybersecurity.
... The goal of the interviews was to explore different perspectives and understand how participants tackled the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the co-location. The interviews were semi-structured, explanatory interviews and structured into three blocks: introduction, main questions, and conclusion (Bogner & Menz, 2009;Gansen et al., 2011;Meuser & Nagel, 2009). This allows for the structure to keep the dialogue goal-orientated, but enough freedom to ask additional or clarifying questions. ...
This paper aims to understand how science and technology experts working in the digital mental health field interpret the ethical and social implications of its technologies, combining an ‘expert interview’ methodology with insights from sociotechnical systems theory. Following recruitment of experts in science and technology fields who had experience of supporting the development of DMH interventions, 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed in accordance with the Framework Method. A single theme of ‘complexity of implications’ is presented here and divided into the categories of ‘implications for users’, ‘implications for healthcare professionals and systems’, and ‘implications for society’. Participants identified a range of ethical and social implications of digital mental health technologies at the three different levels, which this discussion relates to three key aspects of complex sociotechnical systems identified in existing theoretical work. These are ‘heterogeneity’, ‘interdependence’ and ‘distribution’, each of which raises important questions for future research about how complex values, relationships and responsibilities should be negotiated in digital mental health. The paper concludes that this study’s approach provides a model for understanding the implications of digital health more broadly, with participants’ combined experience and knowledge shedding light on key interventions at the forefront of digitalization in healthcare.
This article explores the challenges experienced by civil society organizations (CSOs) in Croatia, as magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the strategies they use to mitigate their effects. ‘Organisational resilience' is discussed based on interviews with CSO representatives from four fields: contemporary arts and culture, environmental protection, women's rights, and educational/youth organizations. Three themes are developed: the ‘normality' of crisis, established practices of resilience, and emergent practices of resilience. Although the pandemic was experienced as a major disruption, there is a lingering sense of persistent crisis in the civil society sector which is constituted by many tribulations: wars and economic crises, piercing insecurity due to lack of stable funding and an antagonistic political climate. Established practices of resilience that help organizations stay afloat encapsulate financial ingenuity, caring about one's work, and good relations within and outside of the organization. Emergent practices include strengthening technology infrastructure and use, establishing a trade union for CSO workers, but also charging for services. The advocacy role of CSOs seems dimmed and their ability to help others comes at the expense of their founding values and personal wellbeing. This suggests a ‘dark’ side to organizational resilience, a concept frequently used to signal a positive ability.
Energy transitions are knowledge-intensive processes where a multitude of actors are trying to cope with inevitable knowledge gaps, surprises, and uncertainties. In this context, we focus on two techno-physical phenomena that are gaining practical relevance with the expansion of wind and geothermal energy extraction, and are surrounded by significant unknowns: wake effects and temperature plumes. Both phenomena can potentially affect the efficiency of energy production, but the extent of their impact is not yet known. Based on 28 semi-structured interviews with experts in the fields of wind and geothermal energy, we explore how different central actors perceive and interpret non-knowledge of wake effects and temperature plumes, and how they deal with it. We show that there are strategies for either using non-knowledge as a basis for action or simply ignoring it and sweeping knowledge gaps under the rug. Both strategies serve the function of protecting agency and keeping things going.
Energy transitions are knowledge-intensive processes where a multitude of actors are trying to cope with inevitable knowledge gaps, surprises, and uncertainties. In this context, we focus on two techno-physical phenomena that are gaining practical relevance with the expansion of wind and geothermal energy extraction, and are surrounded by significant unknowns: wake effects and temperature plumes. Both phenomena can potentially affect the efficiency of energy production, but the extent of their impact is not yet known. Based on 28 semi-structured interviews with experts in the fields of wind and geothermal energy, we explore how different central actors perceive and interpret non-knowledge of wake effects and temperature plumes, and how they deal with it. We show that there are strategies for either using non-knowledge as a basis for action or simply ignoring it and sweeping knowledge gaps under the rug. Both strategies serve the function of protecting agency and keeping things going.
The nature of the firm and the role that it plays in society has become a topic of intense academic and political debate around the world. The European Green Deal, published in 2019, sets out an ambitious collection of policy initiatives linked to the EU Commission’s overarching objective of a climate neutral Europe by 2050. Several societal actors are targeted by these initiatives, with companies often taking centre-stage. While company law in the EU is primarily a national affair, the adoption of the Proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence will have far-reaching consequences for member state national company law and corporate governance codes. Indeed, the Proposal envisages not only a responsibility for the business entity to identify, measure, and in some cases interrupt or anticipate and put a stop to human rights and environmental harms, but will also impose new duties on directors in overseeing these activities – an aspect of corporate law that goes to the heart of doctrine. This paper constructs a rational choice institutionalist account of the interchange of tensions and compromises that make up the increasing integration of European company law and corporate governance issues. The causal mechanisms of this phenomenon is further highlighted through the use of process tracing of the Proposal for a Directive in Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence, offering insight not only into the possible outcomes of the final piece of legislation, but for the future of company law in Europe.
Exceptional developments in digital technologies have made some of the old theories outdated; hence, there is a need to explore digital transformation through a holistic lens and within various industries and countries. Consequently, we introduced the case of digital transformation of business models as it takes shape in the Israeli HealthTech. We conducted 10 semi-structured expert interviews and complemented these with digital archival data for triangulation. External (e.g. shortage of workforce) and internal (e.g. low digital capabilities) challenges have highlighted the need for digital transformation of business models in healthcare. Thus, we introduce these challenges and the potential value creation in the industry. We also present how Israeli HealthTech start-ups solve challenges and create value in the process. In this way, we contribute to the business model innovation and digital transformation literature. Specifically, in healthcare, we show how value-based healthcare takes place in practice.
Consumers have responded to major environmental shocks throughout history by improvising to meet their immediate needs. Prior literature has focused on improvisation in organizational settings, yet there is still much to be learned about improvisation by individuals in consumption contexts. This research explores why, how, and when consumers improvise (and when they do not). It begins with two critical reviews of the literature on improvisation and related concepts. Next, this research entails a qualitative study with data from in-depth interviews with academic and industry experts. Findings reveal the nature of improvisation in consumption settings—the act, motivation, and improvisational ability. Based on the analysis of expert interview data, we propose a typology with four forms: necessity, socialized, everyday, and aspirational improv. We also present preliminary findings from an initial validation of the typology with consumer data. Given the exploratory nature of this work, we discuss future research avenues.
This chapter focuses on trusted and emerging research methods for the empirical analysis of global media and communication governance. The chapter starts by discussing what constitutes media and communication policy research and briefly discusses the characteristics of global media and communication governance that affect research methods. Next, it explains the steps and challenges of doing (global) media and communication policy research before turning to the methods relevant for investigating governance at a global level. It discusses both tried and tested tools of media policy research, such as document analysis and interviews, and emerging methods that may enjoy popularity in other research fields but have become crucial additions to the toolbox of the researcher of global media governance, including observations, experiments and network analysis.
Статья посвящена методологическим особенностям экспертных интервью как самостоятельного метода качественных исследований. Ее цель — привлечь внимание к специфике использования данного инструмента сбора эмпирических данных в социальных исследованиях. Популярность этого исследовательского метода, особенно при проведении прикладных исследований, связана с его универсальностью, позволяющей получить доступ как к «объективным» фактам, так и к некодифицированному знанию, индивидуальному мнению и опыту информанта. Автор статьи обсуждает методологические вопросы, касающиеся интервьюирования экспертов в административном контексте. Такой формат организации и проведения интервью с экспертами по должности в ситуации высокой организационной подотчетности накладывает определенные особенности как на саму процедуру использования метода, так и на последующую аналитическую работу исследователя. В начале статьи вводится понятие экспертного интервью, его отличий от элитного и ординарного. Далее представлены сложившиеся подходы к типизации экспертного интервью (исследовательское, интерпретативное, систематическое и проблемно-ориентированное) на основе получаемого типа экспертного знания (техническое, процессное и интерпретативное). Затем показаны возможности применения экспертных интервью на разных этапах исследовательского цикла. Особое внимание уделено трем характерным трудностям, с которыми исследователь сталкивается в ходе подготовки и проведения интервью с экспертом (особенности взаимодействия между интервьюером и информантом, которые необходимо учитывать при разработке исследовательского дизайна). В заключении суммируются преимущества и ограничения этого метода сбора эмпирических данных.
Big Data has become an essential resource for creating innovative products and services. However, strong Big Data analytics capabilities are required to enable these as value-creation tools, which many businesses are struggling with. Therefore, many digital entrepreneurs with such high-level capabilities have recognised this situation as a lucrative business opportunity. Nonetheless, we still know little about how Big Data and Big Data analytics fit into entrepreneurship research. To fill this gap, we used qualitative methods and an embedded single case study. This includes semi-structured interviews with 20 experts from agriculture- and insurance-technology industries. For triangulation, we deployed a digital archival data analysis. Based on these findings, we created a model for data-driven digital entrepreneurs to help them navigate and evaluate data-driven digital opportunities. Our roadmap consists of three paths data-driven digital entrepreneurs may opt for: specialists, generalists, or system-of-systems designers. Ultimately, this study contributes to digital entrepreneurship literature by implementing the concept of Big Data in this emerging field.
Special education teachers are tasked with meeting the unique academic, social, vocational, and communication needs of students with extensive support needs. However, studies have shown that pre-service special education teachers vary in their preparedness to address the needs of students with extensive support needs who also have complex communication needs. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of faculty experts in relation to preparing special education teachers to work with this unique population of learners. Through qualitative inquiry, we interviewed nine faculty experts about the current state of their teacher preparation programs, the barriers they experience within their programs, and ideal teaching and learning conditions for their pre-service special education teachers. Our findings indicate that special education teachers may not leave their programs sufficiently prepared to support students with extensive support needs who have complex communication needs, a finding that may be attributed to the lack of quality field placements and dedicated coursework and financial restrictions at the student, college, and university levels. Faculty experts shared strategies to enhance coursework and ensure meaningful placements through partnerships.
International migration statistics suffer from extensive gaps and shortcomings. Recently, national statistical institutions (NSIs) have started using big data to complement traditional statistics, including on migration. Although these are promising developments, we still lack answers on the extent to which NSIs are currently using big data for migration and to what extent it complements the gaps in traditional data. We gathered data by interviewing experts from 29 NSIs to investigate how big data is used for official migration statistics. We show that 15 out of 29 NSIs either used big data for migration, had a pilot project or have been involved in joint initiatives. We reveal the specific implications of big data in human migration (e.g. internal mobility, stocks, flows and mobility patterns, among others and the most common sources used to extract official statistics). Moreover, we discuss the challenges and barriers preventing NSIs from using such data. Factors deterring countries from utilising big data include limited data accessibility, an absence of legal frameworks for big data usage, ethical concerns, the possession of already high-quality data, a deficit in expertise and methodologies and a lack of perceived necessity for supplementary data or approaches. Moreover, many countries did not know which data to use and were concerned about the quality and accuracy of such data. Legal barriers were more of an issue than the ethical aspects, and overall, participating countries believe that there is a high potential for big data in the future.
To gain a better understanding of migration patterns and trends, policymakers, researchers, and analysts require high-quality data on migration, including the number of migrants, their characteristics, and the reasons for migration. This information is crucial for developing effective migration policies and programs, and for monitoring and evaluating their impact. However, there have been significant gaps in international migration data for several decades. National statistical institutions (NSIs) have a crucial role to play in collecting and reporting data on international migration. They are responsible for ensuring the quality and completeness of migration data, which is essential for policymakers. Understanding the challenges faced by NSIs in collecting and reporting migration data can help improve the quality of data and inform policy decisions. However, the NSIs’ perspective is often overlooked in academic research. By introducing the “problem-centered institution questionnaire methodology”, this paper provides a cross-country analysis of the challenges that NSIs face in collecting and reporting international migration data. Drawing insights from 30 countries, the study finds that there are significant gaps in the quality and completeness of migration data, particularly in countries without legal responsibility for data collection. NSIs play a crucial role in improving the quality of migration data, but this requires time and political attention. The study suggests that shifting to administrative sources can help gather better data in a timely fashion. Experience sharing and cooperation across NSIs can also help address gaps in the data. In many countries, stock data are derived from censuses and large-scale surveys.
Increasingly intelligent AI artifacts in human-AI systems perform tasks more autonomously as entities that guide human actions, even changing the direction of task delegation between humans and AI. It has been shown that human-AI systems achieve better results when the AI artifact takes the leading role and delegates tasks to a human rather than the other way around. This study presents phenomena, conflicts, and challenges that arise in this process, explored through the theoretical lens of principal-agent theory (PAT). The findings are derived from a systematic literature review and an exploratory interview study and are placed in the context of existing constructs of PAT. Furthermore, this article paper identifies new causes of tensions that arise specifically in AI-to-human delegation and calls for special mechanisms beyond the classical solutions of PAT. The paper thus contributes to the understanding of autonomous AI and its implications for human-AI delegation.
The field of urban planning in Russia (hereinafter — UP) is of particular interest for sociological analysis. By M.S. Larson, results of the activity of architects and town planners are not only material features, but also cultural, behavioral patterns which are inscribed in urban planning projects. In the last decade, professionals, city managers, and developers have faced new challenges related to the quality of the urban environment. The request for new approaches in the field of renovation of urban spaces was formulated both by professionals, representatives of civil, expert communities and grassroots groups, and by government authorities (within the framework of the federal project “Formation of a Comfortable Urban Environment”).The focus of this article is the analysis of “urbanistika” (=urban studies and practices) in Russia in 2008-2021, based on materials from expert interviews with professionals with experience in the field of urban planning. Key aspects of the transformation of UP that were identified during the analysis include: 1) marketization of UP, 2) the formation of an individualistic discourse, 3) the formation of a therapeutic discourse, 4) a communicative turn in UP, which is shown by the example of the emergence of new methods (participatory design and others methods aimed at taking into account the opinions of residents during the urban planning process), as well as the emergence of new actors (bloggers and urbanists) in urban discussions and projects.
El turismo y su dinámica socioeconómica es reconocido, en el departamento de La Guajira, como una actividad económica de gran aceptación e interés por los dividendos económicos que genera y por la capacidad de favorecer a comunidades con difícil alcance de la política pública nacional. La experiencia turística del departamento de La Guajira ha logrado, recientemente, la articulación de dos elementos cruciales de esta economía: “turismo” y “etnia “wayúu”. Este dúo constituye un escenario esperanzador para la economía local. Sin embargo, la ausencia de planeación puede desencadenar consecuencias irreversibles en el contexto, dada la riqueza cultural y patrimonial del principal grupo indígena del departamento, reconocido como el más numeroso del país. El presente documento es parte de los resultados de la investigación de- nominada La cultura wayúu en el turismo indígena de La Guajira, Colombia, investigación adscrita al centro de investigaciones de la Universidad de La Guajira y de la cual se obtuvo el apoyo financiero y logístico para el desarrollo del proyecto. El documento, trata de generar la comprensión del desarrollo de la actividad eco- nómica en relación con sus actores, abordando el turismo indígena como una práctica económica, recientemente utilizada por los indígenas wayúu, como medio alternativo a sus métodos tradicionales de producción para lograr la subsistencia, la permanencia de su cultura ancestral, hoy en riesgo de desaparición por la difícil situación que padece este grupo étnico minoritario, reconocido por su capacidad de resiliencia y sometimiento.
The conditions of mainstream research funding constrain risky, novel research. However, alternative grants are emerging. We study grantees of a double-blinded funding scheme targeting risky, novel research: The Villum Experiment (VE). Without prompting, scientists juxtaposed the experience of performing research under these conditions with that of performing research funded by mainstream grants: fun and less fun. The conditions of VE felt less intrusive and appealed to their self-perceptions and idealized views of scientific work, which shaped how they conducted the funded research. This paper makes three contributions: (1) it reaffirms that how researchers experience grant conditions affects whether a scheme affords what it intends, (2) it highlights that the affordances of research funding are relative to other concurrent funding options, and (3) it shows that small, more broadly allocatable grants can afford scientists a protected space for autonomous research, usually associated with elusive tenure positions or European Research Council (ERC) grants.
In higher education and beyond, the Covid-19 pandemic is considered to have accelerated digitalisation. While this acceleration is usually viewed in the context of the digital transformation that is characterised by its longevity, the permanence of pandemic-driven digitalisation requires investigation. Focusing on appointment procedures for professors as a central element of universities’ governance, the qualitative study presented here employed expert interviews and group discussions to investigate how German universities responded to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic by furthering digitalisation. Drawing on the concept of synchronous and asynchronous communication and Luhmann’s understanding of decision programmes, this article proposes differentiating between two modes of digitalisation in order to systematise the empirical findings and thus analytically distinguish pandemic-driven digitalisation from the general digital transformation. It finds that not all of the newly implemented digital solutions will be used permanently and argues that this can be understood in terms of obstructed decision programmes.
Why do warring parties enter negotiations during an ongoing war? This article builds on previous scholarship that has argued that the onset of wartime negotiations does not always exclusively represent a genuine will by belligerents to arrive at a settlement, but that alternative motives may also drive their decision to negotiate. The article identifies and distinguishes four alternative political and military motives and argues that belligerents may come to the table at times when they need to establish their status vis-à-vis an opponent, establish or safeguard domestic as well as external support, or when they need to buy time if they can no longer uphold levels of violence on the battlefield. This article examines the utility of this argument for the early round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, which took place during Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine in February and March 2022. Triangulating information from semi-structured interviews with country experts, case studies, news sources, and statements by the warring parties, the analysis particularly underlines findings put forward by past research on the costs of war as a determinant for entering talks and shows that entering talks helped Ukraine’s government establish agency and status as a bargaining partner while also serving its broader strategic communication with external actors. There is no evidence, however, supporting proposed mechanisms on belligerents coming to the table in order to establish domestic political support or buy time on the battlefield for the case under analysis.
In discussions on methodology, purists frequently raise objections to the expert interview1 on grounds of it being a “dirty” method. Expert interviews, they claim, operate in a “no-man’s-land” somewhere between the qualitative and quantitative paradigm2 devoid of much profound methodological reflection. Flexibly applied in empirical research, relying more or less on an interview schedule depending on the research interests and the specific research question involved, conducted in a more or less open fashion, the data prepared, analysed, and interpreted in some obscure fashion according to homemade recipes, expert interviews, in the eyes of methodology gurus from the ranks of qualitative as well as quantitative methodology, fail to meet the standards of either one of the paradigms. The social researchers M. Meuser and U. Nagel have experienced this with the qualitative research community: “Whenever the word “guided interview” falls, relentless scepticism from hard-line advocates of “soft” methods is guaranteed. Resort to concepts such as semi-structured or focused interview does little to remedy this — quite to the contrary” (Meuser and Nagel, 1989, p. 8, translated from German).
It is argued that the advancement and division of knowledge production come up against the limiting factors of the modem knowledge regime. These processes change the character of social differentiation in a 'knowledge society': a 'fragmental' type of differentiation emerges and gains superiority over the segmental, stratificatory and functional one (L). The heterogeneity of knowledge and the diversity of knowledgable actors in the distributed innovation processes challenge the established institutions of co-ordination and integration, like the hierarchy between pure and applied sciences and the complementary division of functions between disciplines and between science, industry, and government. The economical, sociological and science and technology studies literature on innovation is reviewed for indicators that demonstrate the rise of a new knowledge regime that is based on heterogeneous networks of innovation. They can cope with the institutional paradox of integrating heterogeneity without loosing innovative diversity (2.). The epistemic paradox is defined by the non-explicability of the implicit. It is argued that this paradox limits the tendencies to make explicit all kinds of knowledge and to formalize it in order to be able to accumulate, to control, and to exploit any information (3.). That is why, finally, the author pleas for a qualitative policy of a balanced 'knowledge diversity' instead of a quantitative policy of an unlimited growth of information.
Reputable and scientifically founded research strategies adhere to certain basic methodological assumptions impressed upon the analysis procedures by the specifics of the actual area of research. In this way, the underlying methodology regulates the entire research process and assumes a reporting function that covers everything from the definition of relevant research issues and the characteristics of any material collected or produced through to the interpretive adaptation of the analysis results. Against this background, this article focuses (first line of argumentation) on how best to view the subject of “the organization” from an interpretive social research methodological perspective to (second line of argumentation) determine the consequences and relevance of different types of expertise and procedural specifics on the characteristics and applicability of expert interviews. In the process, three types of expertise are differentiated, each with its own specific functions in the research process. A case study is then used to address the systematic inclusion of expert interviews in interpretive research design (third line of argumentation).
Unquestionably, German political science draws from a plurality of methods. In comparison to Anglo-Saxon political science, it is for the most part coined less by the “precedence-position of quantitative methodologies and methods hailing from the natural sciences” (Dackweiler, 2004, p. 53; our translation) — simultaneously, it is also characterized by a lack of methodological reflexion. In his 1991 appraisal of qualitative processes Patzelt points out that the practice of empirical political research was once grasped by the “popularity wave known as qualitative analysis” (Patzelt, 1991, p. 53; our translation) and considered herein a faulty approach. Thus, collective statements “ostensible inclinations in regard to categorizing reflection about research methods as irrelevant or to attribute these to Sociology” (ibid.) should be voiced. Interestingly, gender studies in (German) political science are no exemption. Looking at introductory-, text- and handbooks one has to realize how rarely chapters on methods may be found (Dackweiler, 2004, Ebbecke-Nohlen/Nohlen, 1994).
The Delphi method is basically a highly structured group process through which experts assess issues on which knowledge is uncertain and imperfect by nature. The Expert Delphi has in the meantime acquired a fixed position as part of the technology foresight projects that are becoming of increasing importance around the world. This paper presents the methodological principles, sets out specific advantages and critical aspects and illustrates the evolution and application in the context of foresight with examples at international level. Design decisions, innovative elements and exploitation context are presented in the light of the Austrian Technology Delphi (including the problem-oriented approach, the application in the form of a “Decision Delphi,” the broader definition of the expert and special measures to motivate participation). This is followed by an investigation of more recent methodological modifications: the combination with a cross-impact analysis on future European transport systems; a Finnish approach based on a balance between consensus and diversity objectives; and the use of the Expert Delphi with internet support.
In the past 20 years evaluation has been established in the German-speaking area as an integral part of social policy, particularly in connection with the development and implementation of social policy programmes. This development was strongly influenced by EU policy, specifically by the “open method of coordination” and the precept to evaluate all programmes co-financed by EU money. In most European countries this resulted in a boost to professionalization, which had already set in decades earlier in the USA1 In the meantime, in the field of evaluation of social policy programmes a state-of-the-art has developed in the German-speaking area that does receive Anglo-American research but which simultaneously foregrounds participatory and responsive practices as antithesis to quantitatively oriented effect analysis.
The expert interview as a method of qualitative empirical research, designed to explore expert knowledge, has been developed considerably since the early 1990s. A number of readers has been published1 and thus a gap in the methods’ literature has been dealt with, much to the benefit of many disciplines and fields of research in the social sciences. It can be assumed that through increased reflection on methodical issues research into experts’ knowledge has gained in professionalism and quality.2
Moralische Expertise ist heute Privatsache und öffentliche Angelegenheit zugleich. Der anhaltende Trend zur Ethik stellt sich als eine paradoxe Entwicklung dar.
Die Frage, welche Rolle die Geschlechterverhältnisse bei der Durchführung von Expertlnnen-Interviews spielen, wird selten gestellt (eine Ausnahme davon sind Abels und Behrens im vorliegenden Band). Dies ist erstaunlich, ist doch die Frauenforschung schon lange und neuerdings auch die Geschlechterforschung darum bemüht, soziale Interaktionen und soziale Strukturen als „vergeschlechtlicht“, als beeinflusst von Geschlechterverhältnissen, zu analysieren. Konsequenterweise ist deshalb auch die Frage zu stellen, ob sozialwissenschaftliche Methoden, im vorliegenden Fall ExpertInneninterviews, geschlechterneutral sind oder ob und inwiefern die Kategorie Geschlecht bei der Verwendung dieser Methode eine Rolle spielt (Behnke/Meuser 1999). Will man diesen Fragen nachgehen, ist zunächst zu überlegen wie sich die Kategorie Geschlecht im ExpertInneninterview manifestiert und anhand welcher Indikatoren die Vergeschlechtlichung des ExpertInneninterviews beschrieben werden kann. Oder noch grundsätzlicher gefragt: Woran lässt sich erkennen, dass die Kategorie Geschlecht beim ExpertInneninterview bedeutsam ist? Was folgt daraus methodisch und methodologisch für das ExpertInneninterview?
Die Entwicklung der Biotechnologie ist in den vergangenen Jahren zum Gegenstand zahlreicher empirisch-politikwissenschaftlicher Studien geworden. Methodisch wird dabei vielfach auf Expertlnnen-Interviews zurückgegriffen, die ein zentrales Erhebungsverfahren politologischer Forschung im Allgemeinen darstellen, dessen Methodik gleichwohl „vielfach erprobt, wenig bedacht“ (Meuser/Nagel 2002)1 ist. In diesem Beitrag werden wir in einem Werkstattbericht unsere Erfahrungen mit Expertlnnen-Interviews anhand von zwei Forschungsprojekten darlegen, die sich mit der politischen Steuerung der Biotechnologie befassen. Wir werden Möglichkeiten und Grenzen des Verfahrens in einem sich höchst konflikthaft konstituierenden Politikfeld aufzeigen. Aus der anhaltenden politischen Brisanz der Biotechnologie und den Charakteristika der Befragungsgruppe sowie aufgrund allgemeiner Probleme mit Daten aus Befragungen resultieren — so unsere These — Probleme hinsichtlich der Gütekriterien, die es nahe legen, ExpertInnen-Interviews im Rahmen einer Methodentriangulation durch andere Erhebungsverfahren (Dokumentenanalyse, teilnehmende Beobachtung etc.) zu ergänzen.
In den neunziger Jahren hat eine bislang durchaus überschaubare Auseinandersetzung über den Einsatz von Expertlnneninterviews in der empirischen Sozialforschung begonnen, die im Wesentlichen fokussiert war auf deren Durchführung im Rahmen des qualitativen Paradigmas. Diese Auseinandersetzung verdankt sich der selbstkritischen Feststellung, dass Expertlnneninterviews zwar in vielfältiger Weise und durchaus mit Erfolg genutzt, dabei aber kaum reflektiert werden. In treffender Weise formulierten Meuser/Nagel (1991): „Expertlnneninterviews — vielfach erprobt, wenig bedacht“, und gaben damit den ‚Startschuss‘ zu einer notwendigen Reflexion der Forschungspraxis. Zehn Jahre später lässt sich dieses Bonmot vielleicht erweitern und wenden in: ExpertInneninterviews — vielfach erprobt, ausführlich bedacht — und was hat’s gebracht?
Die folgende Darstellung von Fragestellung, Hypothesen und Methodenauswahl einer Untersuchung über „Landesverbände und Bundespartei der CDU: Organisationsstrukturen, Politiken und Funktionsweisen einer Partei im Föderalismus“ basiert in erheblichem Maße auf dem ursprünglich für mein Promotionsstipendium vorgelegten Antrag. Dadurch lassen sich die sachlichen, zeitlichen und methodischen Vorgehensweisen sowie die Veränderungen im Forschungsdesign rekonstruieren, die sich bei einem solchen — angesichts der defizitären Lage des Forschungsstandes und den damals begrenzten eigenen methodischen Erfahrungen — „Aufbuch ins Unbekannte“ unweigerlich ergeben haben. Im publizierten Endprodukt, das ja bekanntlich lesbar, auf das Wesentliche beschränkt und im Umfang begrenzt sein sollte, tauchen forschungspraktische und technische Probleme lediglich exemplarisch auf. Oder: „Von Forscherschweiß ist (dort, J.S.) wenig zu spüren“ (H. von Alemann 1977, S. 12).
In den Anfangszeiten der Sozialberichterstattung in der BRD formuliert einer ihrer prominentesten Vertreter, Wolfgang Zapf (1977: 222), die Ziele und Verfahrensmodelle dieses steuerungspolitischen Instruments wie folgt: Es analysiert auf der Basis gesamtgesellschaftlicher, regionaler und kommunaler Grundinformationen über den sozialen Wandel die Ergebnisse und Erträge steuerungspolitischer Maßnahmen; es zielt auf „Bewertungen der Struktur und Performanz wichtiger Lebensbereiche“ und nimmt prognostische Dateninterpretationen und -extrapolationen vor im Sinne der Ableitung zukünftiger Versorgungsprobleme, Bedürfnislagen und Planungsaufgaben sowie des Entwurfs von Handlungsalternativen („futurologische Prognosen“).
Der von uns so genannte, insbesondere von Anne Honer vorangetriebene, ‚lebensweltliche Forschungsansatz‘ (vgl. Hitzler/Honer 1988, 1990, Honer 1989, 1991), der das Perspektivenproblem ins Zentrum der methodologisch-methodischen Überlegungen rückt, ist immer wieder mit der Schwierigkeit konfrontiert, daß die Übernahme bestimmter Perspektiven empirisch — aus unterschiedlichen, die Felderschließung beschränkenden Gründen — nicht möglich ist. Die Frage, vor die wir uns deshalb grundsätzlich gestellt sehen, ist mithin die, ob dieser Ansatz lediglich eine Sonderform ethnographischen Arbeitens für sehr spezifische — eben ‚leicht zugängliche‘ — Arreale der sozialen Welt darstellt, oder ob er mit dem Anspruch auf generellere Bedeutung vorgetragen werden kann und soll. Kurz: Was heißt es für einen sich als ‚lebensweltlich‘ verstehenden Forschungsansatz, für einen Ansatz also, der Wirklichkeiten möglichst so zu erfassen sucht, wie sie von den Mitgliedern typischerweise erfahren, erlitten und erhandelt werden (vgl. Schitz/Luckmann 1984), wenn eine Mitgliedschaft eben nicht möglich ist?
Before we go any further, we would like to begin by providing the reader with a step-by-step introduction to the methodological debate surrounding expert interviews. In doing so, we will start with a brief discussion of the generally accepted advantages and risks of expert interviews in research practice (1). We will follow this by outlining current trends in the sociological debate regarding experts and expertise, since expert interviews are — at least on the surface — defined by their object, namely the expert (2). We will then conclude with a look at the current methodological debate regarding expert interviews, an overview of the layout and structure of this book, as well as summaries of the 12 articles it contains (3).
Die Wissenschaft sieht sich zunehmend mit der Anforderung konfrontiert, politik- und handlungsrelevantes Wissen bereitzustellen. Gleichzeitig wird ein Rückgang an Vertrauen in die Wissenschaft beklagt und die Forderung nach risikosensibler sowie problem- und nutzenorientierter Forschung erhoben. Aus diesem Spannungsfeld heraus ergeben sich vielfältige Fragen nach den Grundlagen, Möglichkeiten und Grenzen von Wissenschaft sowie nach der Bedeutung wissenschaftlicher Expertise für politische Entscheidungen. Die Beiträge des Bandes widmen sich diesem Fragenkomplex aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven und ermöglichen so neue Einblicke in die Bedeutung des wissenschaftlichen Wissens und der Expertise für Gesellschaft und Politik.
Experteninterviews1 erfreuen sich in der Sozialforschung großer Beliebtheit. So gibt es wohl nur wenige empirische Untersuchungen, die nicht an irgendeinem Punkt des Forschungsprozesses auf das mittels Interviews erhobene Wissen spezifischer, für das Fach- und Themengebiet als relevant erachteter Akteure zurückgreifen. Auch wenn im Einzelfall stark variiert, welche Stellung die Experteninterviews im Forschungsdesign haben, wie die Interviews konkret gestaltet werden und nach welchen Methoden die Auswertung erfolgt — es lassen sich verschiedene gemeinsame forschungspraktische Gründe für die Beliebtheit des Experteninterviews angeben.
“Neither common sense nor science can proceed without departing from the strict consideration of what is actual in experience.” This statement by A. N. Whitehead is at the foundation of his analysis of the Organization of Thought.1 Even the thing perceived in everyday life is more than a simple sense presentation.2 It is a thought object, a construct of a highly complicated nature, involving not only particular forms of time-successions in order to constitute it as an object of one single sense, say of sight,3 and of space relations in order to constitute it as a sense-object of several senses, say of sight and touch,4 but also a contribution of imagination of hypothetical sense presentations in order to complete it.5 According to Whitehead, it is precisely the last-named factor, the imagination of hypothetical sense presentation, “which is the rock upon which the whole structure of common-sense thought is erected” 6 and it is the effort of reflective criticism “to construe our sense presentation as actual realization of the hypothetical thought object of perceptions.” 7 In other words, the so-called concrete facts of common-sense perception are not so concrete as it seems.
In unserem Beitrag befassen wir uns mit wissenssoziologischen und handlungstheoretischen Aspekten des Experteninterviews.1 Wir legen einen Expertenbegriff zugrunde, der an die Funktion, die eine Person innerhalb eines Sozialsystems erfüllt, gebunden ist und nicht an Bedingungen formaler Qualifikation oder an eine offizielle Position. Das entsprechende Expertenwissen resultiert aus der praktischen Wahrnehmung von bestimmten Funktionen; insofern ist es spezialisiertes Sonderwissen. Und es ist nur solchen Personen verfügbar, die diese spezifische Funktion innehaben bzw. einmal innehatten, eventuell noch denjenigen, die sich im Dunstkreis der Funktionsträger bewegen. Insofern gilt Expertenwissen als Insiderwissen.
In verschiedenen Forschungsprojekten haben wir mit dem Verfahren des offenen, leitfadenorientierten ExpertInneninterviews gearbeitet und dabei die Erfahrung gemacht, dass wir methodisch auf einem wenig beackerten Terrain operieren mussten. Das gilt nahezu vollständig für Auswertungsprobleme. In der — spärlich vorhandenen — Literatur zu ExpertInneninterviews werden vorwiegend Fragen des Feldzugangs und der Gesprächsführung behandelt. Die Frage, wie „methodisch kontrolliertes Fremdverstehen“ (vgl. Schütze u.a. 1973) im Rahmen von ExpertInneninterviews zu bewerkstelligen ist, bleibt völling offen. Ziel dieses Artikels ist es, einige Fragen hinsichtlich der Methodik des ExpertInneninterviews zu behandeln. Das empirische Material, auf das wir uns beziehen stammt aus Forschungsprojekten, die wir durchgeführt haben bzw. Gegenwärtig bearbeiten1. Das Auswertungsverfahren, das wir vorstellen werden (s. Kap. 4), haben wir aus unserer eigenen Forschungspraxis entwickelt, die ihrerseits im Rekurs auf die Literatur zur qualitativen bzw. interpretativen Sozialforschung zustande gekommen ist.
This study investigates in detail the interaction between interviewers and respondents in standardised social survey interviews. Applying the techniques of conversation analysis, Hanneke Houtkoop-Steenstra reveals how certain rules of normal conversation fail to apply in interviews based on a standard questionnaire, and offers original empirical evidence to show what really happens. Her book demonstrates that interview results can only be understood as products of the contingencies of the interview situation, and not, as is usually assumed, the unmediated expressions of respondents' real opinions. Her conclusions have important implications for anyone interested in effective survey compilation and interpretation. The book is highly accessible, setting out the basic tools of conversation analysis simply and clearly, and suggesting ways of improving questionnaire design wherever possible. Its approach will be of great interest to students and researchers of survey methodology.