Researching Education Policy, Public Policy, and Policymakers: Qualitative methods and ethical issues

Researching Education Policy, Public Policy, and Policymakers is a theoretical and hands-on practical guide to conducting qualitative research on education policy and public policy, with an emphasis on studies that involve senior participants and high-status government and non-government organisations.

Building on over a decade of extensive experience in qualitative research on education policy among the most senior policymakers, this book explores and illustrates successful approaches to working with senior policymakers through examples from both the UK and Israel. Whilst policy studies are traditionally either theoretical or quantitative, this book explains the theory, methodology, and ethics of harnessing qualitative methods to the study of senior policymakers and their settings.

Key topics include:

Designing and planning the qualitative policy study

Document analysis as a policy research tool

Interviewing policymakers and observing policy

Mapping qualitative policy analysis methods

Writing policy reports

Ethics and trust

This practical guide, built upon a sound theoretical framework, will prove both inspirational and helpful to academic and professional researchers across all disciplines involving public policy.