Research Methods -- The Food Pyramid Meets the Regulatory Pyramid: Responsive Regulation of Food Advertising to Children

Abstract

This chapter forms part of a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of a PhD from the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney.

This chapter describes the types of data and methods of analysis used in the empirical research that formed the basis of my thesis, and which focused on the food and alcohol industries. I drew upon a mix-method research design that used two main sources of data for the study: public documents on food and alcohol advertising regulation, and semi-structured in-depth interviews with key stakeholders. I describe some of the issues involved in conducting research on large and powerful companies, as well as accessing business elites for interviews. The chapter concludes by briefly outlining the content of the substantive chapters of the thesis, and signposting the different ways in which data are used in each chapter.

Keywords: Qualitative research, alcohol industry, food industry, in-depth interviews, business elites

JEL Classification: K10, K30, K32