Date: 2019
Type: Article
Interviewing lawyers : a critical self-reflection on expert interviews as a method of EU legal research
European journal of legal studies, 2019, SI, pp. 17-47
KORKEA-AHO, Emilia, LEINO, Päivi, Interviewing lawyers : a critical self-reflection on expert interviews as a method of EU legal research, European journal of legal studies, 2019, SI, pp. 17-47
- https://hdl.handle.net/1814/60786
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
Interviews are commonly used as a research method in social and political science, where they are considered an effective means to elicit information on political and social behaviour. Interviews are less frequently used in legal research outside characteristically ‘socio-legal’ or ’empirical legal’ research, which is a type of legal research that relies on qualitative or quantitative methods. Drawing on the authors’ own experiences from conducting and using interviews with legal professionals as a source of legal research in the context of EU law, this article offers both a theoretical contribution and some practical insights. Theoretically, it builds on the existing literature on ‘expert’ interviews by examining lawyer interviews as a particular form of ‘expert’ investigations. We argue that interviews with lawyers pose particular challenges, which have been ignored and overlooked in general discussions on expert interviews. These challenges relate to access, confidentiality and control of research data, each of which is discussed in detail.
Additional information:
Special issue published online 31st January 2019 in cooperation with the Network of Empirical Legal Scholars
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/60786
ISSN: 1973-2937
External link: https://ejls.eui.eu/
Files associated with this item
- Name:
- 3.-EJLS-NoLesLaw-Korkea-aho-Le ...
- Size:
- 188.8Kb
- Format:
- Description:
- Full-text in Open Access, Published ...