Who's Afraid of WikiLeaks? Missed Opportunities in Political Science Research

Leaked information, such as WikiLeaks’ Cablegate, constitutes a unique and valuable data source for researchers interested in a wide variety of policy‐oriented topics. Yet political scientists have avoided using leaked information in their research. This article argues that we can and should use lea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Review of policy research 2015-03, Vol.32 (2), p.175-199
Main Author: Michael, Gabriel J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
21st century
Bank failures
Cables
Data analysis
Data collection
Diplomatic facilities
Ethics
Freedom of the press
intellectual property
Leaked information
Leaking of information
Negotiation
Negotiations
Partnership
Political science
Political Science Research
Political Scientists
Politics
Public Opinion
Qualitative Methods
Qualitative research
Quantitative analysis
Quantitative Methods
Research methods
Review articles
Scientists
Shootings
Supreme Court decisions
Technological planning
traditional knowledge
Trans-Pacific Partnership
Uniqueness
WikiLeaks
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Description
Summary:Leaked information, such as WikiLeaks’ Cablegate, constitutes a unique and valuable data source for researchers interested in a wide variety of policy‐oriented topics. Yet political scientists have avoided using leaked information in their research. This article argues that we can and should use leaked information as a data source in scholarly research. First, the methodological, ethical, and legal challenges related to the use of leaked information in research have been considered, concluding that none of these present serious obstacles. Second, how political scientists can use leaked information to generate novel and unique insights concerning political phenomena using a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods have been shown. Specifically, how leaked documents reveal important details concerning the Trans‐Pacific Partnership negotiations, and how leaked diplomatic cables highlight a significant disparity between the U.S. government's public attitude toward traditional knowledge and its private behavior have been demonstrated.
ISSN:1541-132X
1541-1338
DOI:10.1111/ropr.12120