Soliciting research interviews from skittish types

[what to do]

I'm starting up a new research project, or at least trying to, and finding it surprisingly difficult to get people to talk to me.  I'm not sure why exactly, but I think that they are suspicious that their ideas might be stolen by others.  Naively, that never occurred to me as a problem I'd encounter when trying to make contacts for this project.

Any suggestions for how to gain people's trust under these circumstances?  I've succeeded before with interviews and ethnographic work, but this one is proving to be a tough nut - maybe one that I won't be able to crack!

[Honesty]

Feb 9, 2014 16:09:51 GMT -5 what to do said:

I'm starting up a new research project, or at least trying to, and finding it surprisingly difficult to get people to talk to me.  I'm not sure why exactly, but I think that they are suspicious that their ideas might be stolen by others.  Naively, that never occurred to me as a problem I'd encounter when trying to make contacts for this project.

Any suggestions for how to gain people's trust under these circumstances?  I've succeeded before with interviews and ethnographic work, but this one is proving to be a tough nut - maybe one that I won't be able to crack!

Tell us more about your research, and maybe we'll be able to help you.

[Get a sponsor]

I think you need to start smaller and then snowball up. Or if you have connections with someone who will introduce you around. Perhaps try talking about more neutral topics to start out with and then do repeat interviews later?

[what to do]

It's a study in economic sociology. I'm trying to be vague enough so as not to compromise anything or anyone, but I'll try to describe more. It's research on people involved in virtual economies. The ethos of those involved tends to be anti-establishment, and they often do their thing alone at home, though sometimes there are meet-ups, conferences, that sort of thing.

[Covert]

You might consider your role as a researcher. How vocal and overt are you about being a participant vs researcher? Might gain more access if you seem like one of them rather than a geek from a university.

[Honesty]

Feb 11, 2014 4:10:03 GMT -5 what to do said:

It's a study in economic sociology. I'm trying to be vague enough so as not to compromise anything or anyone, but I'll try to describe more. It's research on people involved in virtual economies. The ethos of those involved tends to be anti-establishment, and they often do their thing alone at home, though sometimes there are meet-ups, conferences, that sort of thing.

My response was meant to render visible the inherent contradiction in posting to a board asking for help getting research subjects to talk, research subjects one believes may be afraid of revealing their research ideas to an interviewer (they do not know?), while failing to reveal one's own research idea to people (one does not know, who) one is asking to provide assistance.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[LOL]

I've got the answer to that - start conversations by asking them about what they think about bitcoin. That'll get them talking. Plus there are bitcoin events you can go to, if you want to meet more of these... people.

Also helps to say you're not for or against whatever tinfoil!hat!topic. (I have to stop here or the next stop is derail city.)

[what to do 1]

Oh yawn, I've entered cyber kindergarten, when I thought I'd merely (and earnestly) try to solicit some advice from the community at large.

Honesty, funny thing is that I posted the query after wanting a break from reading a pile of graduate student papers. My eyes were glazing over from reading too many ponderous phrases like "rendering visible," and the simple inability to distinguish between irony and contradiction. That, folks, is irony.


p.s. LOL u keep it nice and simple. plz don't derail.

[what to do]

Covert, thanks for the suggestion. But doesn't that raise ethical issues? That is a serious question. I could go around events without revealing that I'm a researcher, but is that kosher?

[Honesty]

Feb 12, 2014 17:14:00 GMT -5 what to do 1 said:

Oh yawn, I've entered cyber kindergarten, when I thought I'd merely (and earnestly) try to solicit some advice from the community at large.

Honesty, funny thing is that I posted the query after wanting a break from reading a pile of graduate student papers. My eyes were glazing over from reading too many ponderous phrases like "rendering visible," and the simple inability to distinguish between irony and contradiction. That, folks, is irony.


p.s. LOL u keep it nice and simple. plz don't derail.

Hmm.  Maybe you need more of a break than you realize.  Which is more ponderous, "render visible" or "help someone see something they do not at present seem to see?"

And, which is more ironic--my pointing out (and thus rendering visible) the contradiction in your position, contradiction so visible to any observer that your would-be research subjects seem so able to see that they react by freezing you out of the information you purport to seek as part of your, ahem, "research," OR, your attempting to escape the prospect of reading grad student papers that propose to (or perhaps actually DO), in the best sociological tradition, "render visible" certain mundanely unseen matters by rendering INvisible the contradictions in your own (escapist) research approach?

Good questions all.  Perhaps you'll be able to render visibility to the answers for yourself and thereby be able to move forward--someday--on this stealth research project.  Good luck with that.

Peace.  Out.

[covert]

When someone reveals ones role as a researcher in any ethnography is tricky. Some researchers never told anybody of their research role. For example, in "Between Women" Judith Rollins became a covert maid during graduate school to study the way white female employers treat black female maids. She simply recorded how she was personally treated because she did not some "socialy desirable" comments of how nice their employers were

[Dude, IRB]

Guys, before you get all hot about doing covert ethnography, you'll want to run that by your IRB. Don't get yourself into a situation where you can publish in a good journal because you've made some dumb move like trying covert research without clearing it with them.

[covert]

I agree research should be run by irbs, but irbs are often ill-preparred to deal with any research that isn't survey based (if they do not use exemptions). Katz (2006) writes: "participant-observation fieldwork will be incompatible with the preapproval requirement when new data emerge from experiences in which the line between personal life and research activities is blurred. Erving Goffman’s empirical materials often came from observations he made in the course of his everyday life in public places. Elijah Anderson has drawn on decades of everyday experience indiverse areas in Philadelphia to write on race relations in urban life."

When discussin the logistical problems with informed consent, Librett and Perrone (2010) write "Informed consent, as currently defined, regulates the relationship between researcher and each individual participant."

Katz, J. (2006). Ethical escape routes for underground ethnographers. American Ethnologist, 33(4), 499-506.

Librett, M., & Perrone, D. (2010). Apples and oranges: ethnography and the IRB. Qualitative Research, 10(6), 729-747.

[what to do]

Interesting resources, thank you for posting. Do you know of other published work, either books or articles, where the author says straight up that they were covert researchers?

I've always walked into research situations practically wearing a sign that I'm a sociologist doing research. But I was working in a foreign country, and stuck out like a sore thumb, so it wasn't like there were any alternatives. I was very comfortable with telling people immediately I'm a researcher, and was surprised by the reactions. It was with social movement activists, so they were eager to talk and explain why they're committed to their cause.

[drbearjew]

I can't recall off the top of my head if Kathleen Blee informed the women in the white supremacist groups of the type of study she was conducting at the time. Also check out Christine Williams' Inside Toyland.