Interview Guide for the Study of Pacifist Persisters*

Developed by James Downton, Jr. and Paul Wehr

Department of Sociology

University of Colorado, Boulder

For information about: The Persistent Activist: How Peace Commitment Develops and Survives, by: James Downton Jr. and Paul Wehr click here.

1. What is your age?

2. What is the highest educational degree you've attained?

3. What is your occupation?

4. What is your approximate yearly income?

5. Do you make any income from your peace activism?

6. How long have you been a peace activist?

7. What were some of the influences which led you to become a peace activist?

8. What peace group(s) are you currently involved with?

• Probe: How long have you been involved?
• Probe: What has been the nature of your involvement?

9. What were some of the reasons you became attracted to the peace group you're currently involved with?

10. What impact would you say your peace group has had on the local, national, and/or international situation?

11. How satisfied are you with the achievement, up to this date, of your peace group?

12. How satisfied are you with the achievement of the peace movement as a whole?

13. How active in the peace movement are you at this time?

14. How would you characterize the strength of your commitment to the peace group you're involved in?

15. Under what circumstances has the strength of your commitment decreased?

• Probe: What are the things which have happened to make you feel less committed to go on with your group's peace work?

16. Under what circumstances has the strength of your commitment increased?

• Probe: What are the things which have happened to make you feel more committed to go on with your group's peace work?

17. What is it that motivates you to continue your peace work?

18. Are there any people, past or present, who, as examples of dedicated peace activists, have affected your own level of peace activism?

• Probe: If yes, who are they and how have they affected your own motivation to be active?

19. Roughly how much time are you currently putting into peace activism?

20. Do you at times consider dropping out of your peace group?

• Probe: If so, for what reasons?
• Probe: If so, why do you continue?

21. Do you at times consider dropping out of the peace movement as a whole?

• Probe: If so, for what reasons?
• Probe: If so, why do you continue your commitment to the peace movement?

22. Can you think of some reasons why someone might leave your peace group?

23. Do you know of any people who have left your peace group?

• Probe: If so, what do you think were the reasons they left?

24. Can you think of some reasons someone might want to drop out of the peace movement as a whole?

25. How would you describe the sense of personal responsibility you feel to work for peace?

• Probe: If you do feel personally responsible, what led you to feel that way?

26. Do you have close friends within your peace group?

• Probe: If so, what effect do those friendships have on your commitment to the peace group's work?
• Probe: If so, how close would you say you are to those friends?

27. What are the ethical principles you hold which seem connected to your peace work?

• Probe: How similar are your ethical principles to those espoused by your peace group?
• Probe: Are there any differences between your ethical principles and your group's principles?
• Probe: If so, what are those differences?
• Probe: How serious are those differences?

28. How strongly attached are you to your peace group's ethical principles? Explain.

29. How do you feel about your peace group's organization?

• Probe: How do you feel about the way things are run?

30. If you had to assess the job your peace group's leaders have done, what would you say?

31. Do you feel a sense of personal loyalty toward your peace group's leaders?

• Probe: If so, how strong is that loyalty?

32. Given the world situation today, how urgent would you say peace efforts are?

• Probe: Has the feeling of urgency for peace action changed recently?
• Probe: If so, what changes or events have affected the feeling of urgency?

33. Are there any individuals or groups outside of your peace group which support your peace work?

• Probe: Who are the individuals? What are the groups?
• Probe: What effect does that support have?

34. Are there any individuals or groups within your personal network that oppose your peace work?

• Probe: If so, who are the individuals? What are the groups?
• Probe: What effect does that opposition have?

35. Thinking of other commitments outside of your peace group, such as family, career, etc., how much do these other commitments compete with your peace work?

• Probe: If there is competition, how do you handle it?

36. Do you sometimes grow weary of being involved?

• Probe: What do you do when that happens?

37. Thinking of other commitments outside of your peace group, such as family, career, etc., how much do these other commitments reinforce your peace work?

• Probe: How much, and in what ways, do they reinforce your commitment?

38. How is it that some people have remained strongly committed to peace work even during times of little progress and serious setbacks?

• Probe: What makes them persist in their commitment in the face of such difficulties?
• Probe: What specific things do people do to maintain their commitments?

39. Would you say you have been one of these persisters? (If it is clear they're a persister, say: "Since you are a persister, what factors have contributed to that persistence?" Then skip first probe.)

• Probe: If so, what are the factors which have contributed to your persistence as a peace activist?
• Probe: Are there specific things you have done, like developing certain coping strategies, which have allowed you to be committed over the long haul? If so, what?
• Probe: If not, why?

40. What kind of peace activist is likely to remain committed over the long term?

41. If you were advising leaders of the peace movement about how to sustain the commitment of its members, what would you recommend?

42. What kind of impact has your peace activism had on your personal development?

• Probe: Has it changed your personality in any way?

43. Is there anything you'd like to add to explain how you've been able to persist as a peace activist over the long haul?

* This interview guide for pacifist persisters was used in research for Downton and Wehr, Persistent Activism: How Peace Commitment Develops and Survives (Boulder, CO and London: Westview Press, 1997) and for their article "Persistent Pacifism: How Activist Commitment is Developed and Sustained," Journal of Peace Research 35(5), September, 1998, pp. 531-550.