DATA OBTAINED FROM ELITE INTERVIEWS: OBJECTIVE TRUTH

The prevalent assumption of literature on elite interviews is that the ‘truth’ is existing and needs to be captured by the researcher and is independent of the

individual influences (Kogan, 1994). The objective ‘truth’ in elite interviews have

been of concern given the asymmetrical power relationship between the researcher and the respondents and the ability of the elite respondent to control the flow of information (Morris, 2009; Hirsch,1995). The focus of this specific research being the personal stories, narration of the elite group of IAS officers this concern is not that much of a problem since its not touching upon their public or official roles and decisions made but more their life-story (Hirsch,1995). Elite research which focuses on their organizational role or critique some of their decisions would be the suspects in terms of the objective nature of the information conveyed through personalized interviews (Hirsch,1995). However the researcher deployed a few methods in order to verify the auto-biographical stories and narration of the respondents to be

consistent and valid.

7.10.1 TRIANGULATION:

This specific research deployed the methodology of triangulation of sources of data being:

1.0 Semi-structured interviews 2.0 Participant-Observation

3.0 Textual material like journals, diaries, autobiographies, biographies, newspaper articles

Particularly helpful in the case of West Bengal cadre was the availability of plethora of literary texts scribed by both the IAS officers and ICS officers. In fact there is a

or ‘District Journal’. Many of these civil service officers went on to write memoirs

after retirement with strong focus on personal reflections, experiences and less of political matters. Multiple methodological approach is the often recommended approach in elite studies given the complexity of capturing the information about the reality (Hunter,1993; Moyser &Wagstaffe, 1987; Brewer &Hunter, 1989).

In this section on the elites, the researcher wishes to mention a peculiar trend of

naming the books written by IAS officers as ‘A civil servant remembers’ or ‘ The long road to a civil servant’s office’ or ‘Recollections of an uncivil servant’ which

all indicate the narcissistic nature of narration which only affirming the self- perception of an elite role of the IAS officers in the Indian context. Rarely one can find a book written on civil service without the personal-centric focus. Interestingly most of the biographical accounts and memoirs have been written by IAS officers belonging to the Presidency cadres. For this specific research this was enormously

helpful from an elite research perspective since the stories about the ‘Self’ were all

there to be read and interpreted and provided an excellent source of information. With regards to participant-observation there were tacit codes and insider anecdotes which the researcher being familiar could utilize as validation for the information provided.

According to the researcher this insider perspective offered insights which facilitated gathering and verification of information. With respect to elite research the

researcher identified the need to have a grasp of the scenario in which the elite groups, IAS officers lived and operated and the recurring themes like food shortage of the 70s or the IT revolution of the early 90s at the onset of this research.

7.10.2 DISCUSSION GROUPS – INTRA-ELITE CONVERSATIONS:

In the sylvan surroundings of Calcutta Club or the genteel ambiance of the iconic

confectionary café Flury’s in the heart of Kolkata the researcher observed

conversations between IAS officers. The researcher generated a discussion group mildly without a loud declaration of any research purpose but more as a curious individual. Given the nature of IAS officers and their penchant for reminiscences

about the ‘good old days’ it wasn’t too difficult to spark off a conversation about

information obtained broadly were in line with the personalized face-to-face

interviews and the names of ‘icons’ offered a great ‘clue’ or ‘lead’ to the researcher

which kept coming up in conversations.

The researcher has been a party to few such intra-elite conversations and this familiarized him with the anecdotes and jokes which circulated amongst them and

were great ‘clues’ to posing questions while conducting the interviews.

As one respondent from West Bengal cadre mentioned that there were some

legendary officers who ‘entered their pantheon of model IAS officers’ and would be

worth mentioning there were no dearth of ICS officers in this pantheon. Here again humorously they fondly recollected the very stern and strict senior IAS officers in their early years of service, who were more paternal guardians than professional bosses. The researcher wondered if they were so fond of them while serving these very strict IAS officers or this is more a romantic nostalgia of the seniors who shaped them!!

In context of elite research this is relevant with respect to the notions of

‘apprenticeship’ concerning professional life; the appreciation of being treated in a

tough manner which shaped them for later challenges, this can be treated as a characteristic of elite training as well, not just kind-hearted seniors but ones who instilled sense of duty and discipline.

These conversations were informal and spontaneous in terms of generating

interesting data for the research. This information provides tremendous advantage for the researcher since there was no intervention (Herzog, 1995).

7.10.3 CONSTRUCTIVIST MODE – RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY: The research is of a constructivist, interpretive philosophy with its meaning

underpinned in ‘situated knowledge’ (Haraway, 1989). In this philosophy

individuals are guided by subjective meaning which is derived from interaction with the social world through the agency, which is the active conscious interactions of the self with the external world (Guba & Lincoln, 2005; Grix, 2002; Bryman, 2001; Lewis,1990). This subjective meaning is being constantly revised through social interactions (Morris, 2009; Bryman, 2001). This particular research draws from this

concept that the social phenomena being studied is produced through social interaction and that there is no ‘one’ objective truth which is being sought through

research. In elite research the concern is expressed about capturing the ‘objective truth’ through research and the possible shortcomings (Morris, 2009). Strategy of

the research is interpretive with its focus on capturing the particularity and is the

‘vantage point’ for analyzing the social phenomena which is under investigation.

The research inquiry is a conversation between the researcher with his theoretical

construct and the ‘situated knowledge’ of the respondents, i.e. the IAS officers

(Haraway,1989; Rosaldo, 1989).

This research captures and records the meaning as defined by the actors, in this case the respondents, the way they interpret their world and hence the sense making is what the researched makes (Sarantakos, 2005). Hence this research does not search

for any ‘universal’ meaning independent of the actors, respondents claiming finally that what is ‘true’ about the social world for the people researched(Sarantakos,2005;

Gusterson,1995). Here one is studying the formation of informal networks, CoPs which are formed amongst IAS officers during the course of their career and how it facilitates lifelong learning and innovation. The research does not intend to offer

any external perspective or conclusions regarding the ‘truth’ of formation of CoPs

independent of the narratives of the IAS officers and verify in a logical manner their

interpretation of the social reality. The ‘objective truth’ is what the respondents depicted as their ‘objective truth’.

The entire focus of the research has been to capture, record and interpret this social reality with high degree of accuracy and detail, no minutiae however trivial has been overlooked in this research. As far as elite research ‘pitfall’ is concerned research strategy and methodology has strived to attend to this process of capturing detail about the social world of IAS officers. In the case of the West Bengal cadre retired IAS officers this has been smoothened by the fact that the researcher hails from the region and their shared social reality with that of the researcher.