ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses some of the most important methodological and technical-methodological challenges social scientists face when researching political elites, especially when adopting the positional method. They usually have to choose between analysing the whole population or just a sample of it. Although the choice will be determined by the nature of the research, both options pose challenges for researchers, especially when using web-based surveys. Moreover, the technical-methodological choice of method for data collection when using surveys (mode of survey: face-to-face, mail/self-administered or web-survey) also has fundamental consequences – in the financial and logistic fields and in terms of response rates and data quality. Based on the experience of researchers in Greece, Portugal and Spain, this chapter offers an overview of the more important elite surveys (candidates and/or MPs) fielded in the three Southern European countries under scrutiny and offers also some suggestions on how to improve the data collection and management process in studies targeting the whole population or a sample of MPs and/or candidates.
