ABSTRACT
The most significant means of generating new knowledge was via interviews. The most significant category of interviews was with G7/8 and G20 Sherpas. When requesting interviews, the approach had greater force when it was possible to say that a colleague or superior had suggested that they participate in the research. The interviews themselves were carried out in a semi-structured form. Semi-structured interviews thus sit in the middle ground between the rigidity and formality of structured interviews and the fluidity and informality of unstructured interviews. Interviews were essential as a compliment to archival research, and vice versa. Interviews served as interpretive, corroborative, and additive compliments to textual sources. Interviews may also be additive as they can help access and understand debates and contestations that are often missing in official documents. Interviews are corroborative in that they help in understanding the validity of archival sources.
