Elites' Attitudes Analysis
Elites' Attitudes Research and Analysis Description
Research of Asia-Pacific elites’ perceptions of the EU has been completed. Subsequent analysis is ongoing, final results should be available after December 2005.
Sampling strategy for the elite interviews included a random selection of the key informants across the country and across the sectors. The interviews took place in political and economic centers: in Australia they happened in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide in NZ in Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch, in South Korea in Seoul, and in Thailand in Bangkok. The analysis involved comparison between perceptions of the EU expressed by elites in business, political and media sectors. The interviews occurred in July-September 2005.
In the course of the study, 70 Asia-Pacific business, political and media elite members were interviewed in the three countries (the South Korean data is currently being finalized).
| Australia | New Zealand | Thailand | Total | |
| MPs | 9 | 8 | 5 | 22 |
| Business People | 10 | 8 | 5 | 23 |
| Media | 8 | 7 | 10 | 25 |
| Total | 27 | 23 | 20 | 70 |
‘Policy-makers’ were identified as current members of national parliaments representing different parties.
‘Media elites’ were identified as editors/news directors and lead reporters of the media outlets that were established as the national leaders in the EU coverage.
‘Business elites’ were identified as members of national business round tables, and other official business networks, and leading exporters to the EU.
The size and profile of the sample and the kind of data contemplated reinforced the choice of a data collection strategy, namely individual face-to-face semi-structured on-record interviews. This technique was argued to be a more personal, flexible, and respective of respondents’ privacy and status approach.
The study used two types of questionnaires – the first one was developed for business and political elites and the second one for media. The second type questionnaire incorporated questions related to the EU news production on par with questions about personal perceptions of the EU. Each interview lasted 40 minutes on average.
In its data analysis, the study drew upon qualitative interpretative methodology capitalizing on its strong insight and interpretation.