精英访谈在教育政策研究中的应用——以访谈新西兰教师工会组织高层管理者为例

Elite Interviews in Educational Policy Research:Interviews with Senior Managers of Teacher Unions in New Zealand

精英访谈是一种通过访谈社会中优势群体来收集资料的重要方法。基于读博期间对新西兰教师工会组织高层管理者的访谈经验,致力于探索精英访谈作为一种资料收集方式的独特挑战和应对策略。精英访谈面临多重挑战,如招募访谈对象相对困难,对研究者的知识水平和背景材料掌握度要求较高,访谈者与访谈对象之间权力关系复杂,非匿名化也伴随着伦理难题。为有效应对这些挑战,需要建立研究者的专业声誉,充分利用文档资料的辅助功能,逐步建立信任的对话关系,尊重和审慎地对待访谈资料。通过精英访谈可以高效地收集“幕后”资料,并有助于打开政策制定过程的“黑箱”。在中国教育政策研究中,精英访谈的运用潜力还有待进一步挖掘。

Elite interviewing is an important method of collecting data by interviewing powerful people.Based on the experiences of interviewing senior managers of teacher unions in New Zealand during their doctoral studies,the authors explore the unique challenges to elite interviewing as a method of data collection.Elite interviews are relatively difficult to recruit interviewees,require a high level of researcher knowledge and mastery of background material,have complex power relationships between interviewer and interviewee,and non-anonymity is accompanied by ethical dilemmas.These challenges can be effectively addressed by building the researcher's professional reputation,making full use of documentary aids,gradually building a trusting dialogue relationship,and treating interview data with respect and discretion.Elite interviews allow for efficient collection of“behind-the-scenes”information and help open the“black box”of the policy-making process.The potential for the use of elite interviews in educational policy research in China needs to be further explored.