Arts & Culture
Qualitative Methods for Studying Political Elites
Quick fact
While public opinion surveys can tell you what thousands of citizens think, studying political elites often requires just a few dozen in-depth interviews—sometimes as few as 20—because the goal is deep understanding, not statistical generalization.
Why this is interesting
Politicians often say one thing in public and another in private—so how do researchers discover what elites really think and do? Behind closed doors, a different set of tools is needed.