From access challenges (as data) to methodological insights: Enhancing qualitative inquiries in public administration research

Little attention has been given to questions of blocked access in public administration research. We draw on past scholarship on access: qualitative research accounts in public administration that address access processes, problems, and possibilities; and our own experience with access challenges in a public school setting involving public sector employees. This allowed us to detail three methodological principles to facilitate the initiation of ethnographic research while access was constantly (re)negotiated: accounting for regulations, rules, and ruling artifacts; meaningful events; and routine and non-routine artifacts. We investigated public administration regulations, events, and artifacts, developing and employing an empirical method to collect data under conditions where access to primary field sites is blocked based on the boundary condition of our investigation. By describing the research findings and their applications, we demonstrate that conceptualizing access problems as multiple data layers can provide researchers with profound insights into relational dynamics, thereby enriching qualitative inquiry in public administration research. We conclude by arguing that this approach remains highly relevant even as field access is constantly negotiated.