Rethinking Method

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.