studying interest groups: methodological challenges and tools

Abstract

Research on interest groups has evolved from a focus on small-N studies to larger-N studies in the past 15 years. While both European and American research has become more sophisticated and aware of methodological aspects, there is yet no specialized literature on methods regarding how to study interest groups. Only few studies discuss the methodological implications of interest group studies, as well as the transferability of methods employed in other areas of political science to this research area. The contributions in this symposium focus on major problems and topics in interest group research and elaborate methods to deal with them: (1) the identification of the relevant interest group population, (2) the analysis of interest group strategies such as access, (3) the identification of interest groups positions and frames, and (4) the measurement of interest group success and influence. The introduction outlines these research problems and describes how the contributions to this symposium address them. The aim of the symposium is to increase awareness of the intricacies of these research problems, outline suitable practices to handle them, and stimulate debate on these methodological aspects.

what is access? a discussion of the definition and measurement of interest group access

“…Mentioning of group names in newspapers fits the definition of access in the sense of winning the gatekeepers' attention but not necessarily in the sense of contact. Also, various door-pass registers may be used to identify the population of active interest groups as well as the population of groups gaining access (but see Eising, 2016). But if access is understood in a resource exchange perspective and thus controlled by the gatekeeper, it is crucial to know to what extent acceptance of the gatekeeper is needed in order to appear in the register.…”

National interest organisations in EU policy-making

“…At the same time, the empirical scope of interest group studies widened from a focus on small-N studies to large-N research to develop broader empirical and more reliable theoretical generalizations (e.g. Bunea and Baumgartner 2014;Eising 2016). Moreover, modular research projects were designed to integrate insights on major facets of interest group politics: mobilization, organization, strategies, influence, population, and bias (e.g.…”

Representing territorial diversity: the role of local government associations

“…Nonetheless, access does provide LGA actors with opportunities to become aware of how issues are perceived by central policymakers and of any policy initiatives earlier rather than later in the policy process; and '[b]y being in the process, [interest groups] are in a position to achieve partial gains and to avoid the even larger losses that might have ensued had they not been on the scene (Schlozman at al., 2012, p. 309). Indeed, the extent of contacts with members of parliament, access to the bureaucracy and media presence are relevant proxy measures of interest group influence given the difficulties of measuring interest group influence (Eising, 2016). Of course, access may come at a price as central policymakers can use access as a strategy to capture or coopt LGA leaders.…”