Using the interpretivist methodology

This chapter presents the potentials and pitfalls of interpretivist research in the study of ministerial advisers. In it we argue that the interpretivist approach enables examination of the roles, identities, perceptions, and beliefs of ministerial advisers, and that interpretivist studies expand our understanding of the interplay between the institutional and political context and the actions of advisers. We reflect on how the context in which special advisers operate might make access difficult. Furthermore, the high pace, unpredictable political environment, and powerful, yet vulnerable, position of ministerial advisers may require the researcher to be patient, flexible, and accommodating when negotiating access and usage of empirical material. We present various ways of generating empirical material and reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of observations and various types of interviews, such as focus groups and informal ethnographic interviews. The chapter touches on different approaches to categorizing, condensing, and presenting data, and offers suggestions for future research on ministerial advisers using an interpretivist approach.