Drawing on examples of research interactions, this book encourages students to rethink some common assumptions about method. It demonstrates the value of treating method not as a neutral resource through which we can access a 'pristine' reality, but as an occasion for social interaction, and worthy of study in its own right. Presenting ideas from conversation analysis and constructionist and critical realist accounts of the 'embeddedness' of the researcher in one's data, this book encourages the reader to critically engage with methodology, and to rethink their understanding of the relationship between method and reality. In this outstanding book, designed for postgraduates and advanced undergraduate students, Susan Speer draws on an extensive corpus of real-life research interactions, taken from interviews, focus groups, surveys and experiments, to bring ideas about the philosophy of method alive. Each chapter provides a stand-alone argument addressed to a commonly held assumption about method (topics include research bias, reactivity, reflexivity, and the politics and ethics of research), and illustrates a corresponding principle for rethinking that assumption.

Table of Contents

Chapter One - Method and Methodology Today: Mapping the Terrain Chapter Two - What's Wrong with Method and Methodology today? Five Common Assumptions Chapter Three - Introducing an Alternative Framework for Understanding Method: Five Principles Chapter Four - Examining Methods in Practice: A Research Example. Chapter Five - Method as Social Interaction: The Joint Construction of Meaning. Chapter Six - Reactivity and Context Effects: The Impact of Research Technologies on our Data Chapter Seven - Respondent Centred Methods: The Impact of the Researcher on the Researched. Chapter Eight - Rethinking the Relationship Between Natural and Contrived Data Chapter Nine - Questions and Implications: The Politics and Ethics of Research Practice