Feminist approach to foreign policy - interview findings: final report

Methodology

A total of seven interviews were conducted with individuals who have knowledge of or experience in the field of feminist foreign policy. The interviews took place between May and June 2022. The rationale for the interviews was to identify and fill gaps in knowledge, as well as identify key themes for work going forward. We also wanted to get participants' views on how best to proceed with further stakeholder engagement.

Interviewees were identified as part of a literature review and approached via email. They were selected due to their knowledge of and experience in FFP. Participants who agreed to take part also suggested further people to contact. In order to speak to a varied group of people, we took geographical location, policy area expertise, and line of work (e.g. academia, NGOs) into account when approaching potential participants. Out of the seven interviewees, two work in academia, two in research, two for NGOs, and one in activism. Two participants are UK-based, one is Europe-based, and four are based outside Europe.

A topic guide was developed based on key issues identified in the literature review, and this was shared with participants prior to the interview (see Annex 2). During some of the interviews a few of the questions had to be skipped due to time constraints. The interviews were conducted on Microsoft Teams, and were led by a social researcher who was accompanied by a note-taker. The notes were shared with participants following the interview, and they had the opportunity to clarify their responses. Participants were asked if they were content to being named in the report – a list of participants can be found in Annex 1. The research was granted ethical approval.

The notes were imported to qualitative data analysis software NVivo, and a Scottish Government social researcher conducted a thematic analysis of the data. This report summarises the key themes identified.