Researching The Powerful In Education (Social Research Today Series, Vol 4)

Educationalists offer an overview of methods for researching those in positions of power. They focus on key issues with broad relevance to social scientists such as access, interviewing, data restrictions, ethical dilemmas and the role of theory.; This book is intended for academic and postgraduate researchers within education, sociology, social policy and politics as well as advanced undergraduates involved with research dissertations. The book's international appeal is enhanced by the contributions of US and UK authors. Cover 1 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 Notes on Contributors 8 INTRODUCTION 14 1 A new focus on the powerful 15 I RESEARCHING CENTRAL GOVERNMENT POLICY-MAKERS 26 2 Researching Thatcherite education policy 27 3 Ministers and mandarins: educational research in elite settings 45 4 The Lords' will be done: interviewing the powerful in education 64 5 Researching the powerful in education and elsewhere 80 6 Ethics and power in a study of pressure group politics 94 II INTERPRETING INTERVIEWS 108 7 Political interviews and the politics of interviewing 109 8 The power discourse: elite narratives and educational policy formation 129 III FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES 144 9 A feminist approach to researching the powerful in education 145 10 Researching the locally powerful: a study of school governance 164 IV HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES 186 11 Research perspectives on the World Bank 187 12 Interviewing the education policy elite 199 13 Writing school history as a former participant: problems in writing the history of an elite school 217 CONCLUSION 234 14 Reflections on researching the powerful 235 Author Index 246 Subject Index 250 Edited By Geoffrey Walford. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes.