TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2018//
TI  - Process, pitfalls and profits: lessons from interviewing New Zealand policy-makers
JO  - Health promotion international
A1  - Signal, Louise N.
A1  - Bowers, Sharron G.
A1  - Edwards, Richard
A1  - Gifford, Heather
A1  - Hudson, Sheena
A1  - Jenkin, Gabrielle L. S.
A1  - Lanumata, Tolotea S.
A1  - Russell, Marie L.
A1  - Thompson, George
A1  - Walton, Mat D.
SP  - 187
EP  - 194
VL  - 33
IS  - 2
N2  - Little has been written about interviewing policy-makers in health promotion and public health research. This article explores the process, pitfalls and profits of semi-structured interviews with policy-makers in 10 research projects conducted in New Zealand. Key members of each research team were surveyed about their research and findings verified against research publications. Key aspects of the process of policy-maker interviews include gaining ethical approval, navigating gatekeepers, using personal contacts and multiple research dissemination methods. Pitfalls of interviewing policy-makers include interviewers not having enough knowledge of the topic so efforts were made to use knowledgeable researchers or up-skill others. Interviews provide access to specialist knowledge of the policy process which cannot be obtained by other methods. While this study was conducted in one jurisdiction, it has implications for other countries. Effective policy-maker interviews in health promotion policy research could contribute to improvements in the quality of data collected and uptake of research by policy-makers.<br><br>© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0957-4824
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daw065
ID  - ref1
ER  -