It aint what you do its the way

It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it Have method, will travel -ethnographer’s calling card

• Most or all of you will know this already • Based on my work with honours students and journal and conference referring.

Out of the mouths of babes • “The researcher can adopt any approach and/or method that represent the true nature of the inquiry and the type of information required (Bell, 1998)” (honours student essay on method)

How does one do that? • Never losing sight of the research question • Staying true to the nature of enquiry • A methodological issue – resolved by theoretical position and secondarily by the practical circumstances – What is needed to be known? – How can I tell that I have found or not found the knowledge? – What is the nature of the knowledge? – How do I tell others such that they will believe me?

Divining one’s methodological attitude • Kvale’s(1996) metaphor: – Are you (and your community of intelligibility) a miner or a traveller? • A miner searches for nuggets of truth – Facts are facts and can be established objectively • A traveller goes to foreign lands and brings back stories – Facts are constructed, imagined, discussed and disputed

Method as a toolbox • Many students see the toolbox and consider and apply the tools and methods with little discrimination • What tools used are dependent upon the problem at hand – The theoretical backdrop – The (scientific) community of intelligibility – Norms and customs of the strange tribe you belong to.

• So I believe it is about the intelligent use of tools with a clear focus on what it is you are doing. • It isn’t what you use but the way that you use (and justify) it

Well that’s enough about you, let’s talk about me! The postmodernist interviewer