Appendix C Ethics – Consensual and Safe Research with Participants and Data

Ethics -Consensual and Safe Research with Participants and DataThis section explains the selection process and ethical standard of this book.Its ethics clearance is in accordance with the ethics of the overall project NestIor 'who gets to live forever?The decline and death of international organizations'.This project has received clearance from the ERC Review Board and the maastricht ERCIC Ethics Board. 1 By mandatory principle, the participation in interviews of policy makers, civil servants, diplomats and other humans was voluntary and interviewees were assured that they would take place based on informed consent and confidentiality.Interviewees were identified and recruited based on their expertise and functions.This way, I tried to ensure that interviewees were not, in any way, discriminated between based on nationality, sex, and the like.Non-discrimination, of course, is the highest ethical standard to commit to not only in research but in social life itself.The approach used for finding interviewees was diverse.First, I asked the organization for relevant contacts through formal channels (for example, the press office) or by asking the current office holder.Also, I asked local academics and think tank experts for referrals.All were contacted via email.Further, I searched on the social media platform linkedIn for further names to get in touch with more people.Also, once I had been in the field, I made use of a custom method in interviewing and asked interviewees at the end of the interview whether they could recommend other colleagues to talk to, which is referred to as the 'snowballing' technique. of course, all techniques can include different degrees of bias, as I was not able to ask everyone at the end, due to time issues or discomfort.Bias may also have occurred as interviewees might have referred me to potential other interviewees not only due to competence but also personal preference and sympathy.Bias is always included and implicit in qualitative research as, regarding responses,