Methods in Democratic Network Governance

There are several competing theoretical approaches to studying governance networks. However, methodological questions about how to study democratic network governance have so far received little research attention. Methods in Democratic Network Governance aims to remedy this problem by addressing some important methodological questions in relation to a comparative case study of the multilevel network governance of employment policy in Britain, France and Denmark.

PETER BOGASON has been Professor of Public Administration at Roskilde University since 1991. Previously he taught in the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, where he also received his PhD. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Bielefeld and the University of Leiden. He is a member of the Steering Group of the European Thematic Network in Public Administration, and an expert for the EU commission in the 5th and 6th Framework Programs. His recent books include Tampering with Tradition: The Unrealized Authority of Democratic Agency (2004), Fragmenteret Forvaltning (Fragmented Public Administration) (2002) and Public Policy and Local Governance: Institutions in Postmodern Society (2000).

METTE ZØLNER is Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. She has written Re-Imagining the Nation and published on values and identities of French managers. She is currently working on a book on French managers in small and medium-sized companies in the era of globalization.

List of Figures	p. viii
List of Tables	p. ix
List of Boxes	p. x
Foreword	p. xi
Notes on the Contributors	p. xii
List of Abbreviations	p. xiii
Methods for Network Governance Research: an Introduction	p. 1
Why a book on methodology?	p. 1
What is network governance?	p. 3
Empirical research on network governance	p. 6
Methodology	p. 9
Structure of the book	p. 16
Notes	p. 20
A Comparative and Multi-level Analysis of Governance Networks: a Pilot Study of Employment Policy	p. 21
Selection of scope, policy area, countries and sites	p. 23
Research strategy: output-based backward mapping	p. 28
Multiple methods	p. 32
Managing collective research processes and data collection	p. 34
Lessons learned from the pilot study	p. 38
Empirical Findings: Seven Network Stories	p. 41
The transnational governance network	p. 43
The Danish national governance network	p. 47
The English national governance network	p. 52
The French national governance network	p. 55
The local governance network in Koge	p. 59
The local governance network in Birmingham	p. 63
The local governance network in Grenoble	p. 67
Summing up	p. 71
Comparative Analysis Based on Expert Reports	p. 74
Introduction	p. 74
Comparative studies based on expert reports	p. 76
A critical assessment of the use of expert reports	p. 79
How should expert reports be analysed?	p. 84
Assessing and analysing expert reports	p. 85
Lessons learned	p. 97
Document Analysis of Network Topography and Network Programmes	p. 99
Introduction	p. 99
Different ways of reading documents	p. 100
Documents lost and found	p. 104
Analysing network topography	p. 107
Analysing network programmes	p. 116
Conclusions	p. 122
Qualitative Interviews: Studying Network Narratives	p. 125
Introduction	p. 125
Qualitative interviews in relation to the study of network governance	p. 127
Selecting respondents	p. 132
Conducting interviews	p. 136
Analysing policy actors' narratives on labour market governance	p. 141
Conclusion	p. 145
Notes	p. 147
Studying Local Network Exclusion through Observation and Diaries	p. 148
Introduction	p. 148
Observation studies and diary writing	p. 150
Undertaking observation and diary studies in Koge, Birmingham and Grenoble	p. 156
The data material and how it was analysed	p. 160
Analysing observations and diaries: some tentative research results	p. 165
Concluding remarks on the use of observation and diaries in network studies	p. 177
Interactive Focus Group Interviewing in Studies of Network Governance	p. 179
Introduction	p. 179
Interactive focus group interviewing and network governance	p. 181
Practical application	p. 187
Analysing network governance through focus group interviews	p. 194
Lessons from interactive focus group interviewing in studies of governance networks	p. 204
Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods for the Analysis of Network Governance: Promises, Problems, Pay-offs and Potentials	p. 207
The promises of method-mixing for the analysis of network governance	p. 207
Experiences from the pilot study: the problems	p. 209
Experiences from the pilot study: the pay-offs	p. 214
Potentials: lessons learned and future directions	p. 221
Notes	p. 223
Conclusion	p. 224
Questions and answers	p. 224
Challenges in the research process	p. 227
Final points	p. 229
References	p. 233
Index	p. 239
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Methods in Democratic Network Governance

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