ABSTRACT
There are many sources to which the researcher interested in the formation of political consciousness may turn. Chapters 4 and 5 drew on published texts and there is no reason why contradictions could not be explicated from even more formal sources such as policy documents or questionnaires (by 'formal' I mean texts whose style and content is governed by a relatively strict and limited set of traditions and/or codified rules). However, the more formal one's source, the more difficult it is to draw out the plurality of people's political agendas and the ambiguities within their commitments. Interviews - particularly relaxed, informal interviews - provide the most useful source for this kind of information. I say this for two reasons. Firsdy, informal or semi-informal interviews can provide a lot of information, including information that the researcher could not have predicted. The information supplied can also be qualitatively different, which brings me to my second point, that speaking to people in a conversational manner enables interviewees to avoid the constraints imposed by more formal modes of expression and to explore the multi-faceted nature of their own attitudes.
