Collecting data from elites and ultra elites: telephone and face-to-face interviews with macroeconomists

Abstract

This article explores the author's experiences of conducting both face-to-face and telephone interviews with elite and ultra-elite respondents. It draws upon the author's PhD research that uses a Sociology of Scientific Knowledge perspective to understand the social construction of macroeconomics. The article demonstrates how this perspective, and contributions from broader methodological texts, shaped the evolving research practice. The author reflects upon the distance between themselves as a relatively novice researcher and the high status position of the elite and ultra-elite respondents. This is followed with a discussion of several practical issues that arose from the research experience that would usefully inform the work of any researcher considering utilising telephone interviews. The article concludes that telephone interviewing with elite and ultra-elite respondents is both a productive and valid research option.