The Transnational NGO Study: Rationale, Sampling and Research Process

Abstract

Transnational NGOs (TNGOs) are increasingly visible and influential actors in global affairs. Although academics and the general public are today more aware of TNGO activity today than a decade ago, our understanding of how TNGO leaders understand their roles in global politics remains limited. Scholarship on this topic has often been driven by individual case studies focusing on successful campaigns within specific sectors. Although research on transnational NGOs is thriving, scholarship largely takes place within particular disciplinary traditions and rarely capitalizes on the strength of an interdisciplinary approach. In addressing these limitations, the TNGO Project focuses on a sample of 152 TNGOs registered in the United States and selected on the basis of size, sector and fiscal health. Researchers traveled the country to question TNGO leaders about governance, accountability, effectiveness, collaboration, communication, leadership and related issues and challenges. The interview protocol was informed by multiple disciplinary perspectives including social movements, not-for-profit management, epistemic communities, transnational activism, interest groups, organizational theory and communications. To facilitate both exploratory (inductive) and confirmatory (deductive) modes of inquiry, the open-ended interview responses were coded using computer aided qualitative data analysis software.