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Abstract

This section introduces readers to the goals of the book and its main working premises. Drawing on the body of literature on the so-called elite and expert interviews (EEI), the book addresses methodological challenges and offers ‘tips & tricks’ in interviewing a wide range of actors relevant to criminology and related social sciences. We particularly discuss interviewing the powerful on sensitive topics and why qualitative research with such actors requires specific methodological sensitivity. The introduction states the authors’ epistemological positioning toward the production of knowledge; it presents the book’s general structure and specific features, such as the use of text boxes drawn from recent empirical research as lively illustrations. Moreover, it highlights some of the ethical, methodological, topical and positional particularities, which will be addressed in the remaining chapters of the book.

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Correspondence to Olga Petintseva .

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Petintseva, O., Faria, R., Eski, Y. (2020). Introduction. In: Interviewing Elites, Experts and the Powerful in Criminology. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33000-2_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33000-2_1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-32999-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-33000-2

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