Ambassador, you’re on Mute: Methods for Co-interviewing Elites Online

Abstract

This article draws on the experiences of two previously unacquainted researchers working at distance who collaboratively used online platforms to co-interview respondents across a dozen countries in 2021–22. Rather than our research plans being disrupted by the constraints of COVID-19, we planned from the outset to conduct our research entirely online. Given our geographic separation, personal circumstances, and globally dispersed respondents, online methods were imperative to our research collaboration. At the same time, conducting co-interviews online introduced the challenge of structuring both effective interviewer-to-interviewer and interviewer-to-interviewee interactions in a virtual environment, where conventional methods might not suffice to create productive engagements, and where non-verbal communications are both more difficult to convey and interpret. In this article, we explore and reflect on our strategies and tactics for co-interviewing in contexts where online methods are a deliberate, welcome choice, rather than the fallback option. We focus on the nuances of interviewing elites, offering insights to help researchers prepare for the process, rather than only the content, of such interview encounters.