Lecture: Debates on theory and method in the social sciences Harold Wilhite SUM 3011/4011a 2010

1. Lecture: Debates on theory and method in the social sciences Harold Wilhite SUM 3011/4011a 2010

2. What is interdisciplinarity? Differing views. Simply awareness of other perspectives? Does it involve the development of new theories and methods? A central issue is how to add value to individualised disciplinary research without dissolving into a quagmire of dilentantism.

3. What is methodology? A way of inquiring about the world. Intimately related to theory (conceptual landscapes). The ways we inquire is deeply related to the ways we conceive and theorize the subject of our research.

4. Differingapproaches to methodology in thenatural and socialsciences • NS: A separation of researcher and object of research. A striving for objectivity. SS separation assumed to be unclear. Search for truth (validity) before objectivity • NS: Theory first, test, negate, new theory (deductive). SS, appropriate theory emerges from engagement with the subject (inductive). • NS: Most often a hegemonic paradigm SS: Most often competing paradigms

5. The Ortner article • The Ortner article aims at exemplifying a deep theoretical debate in the social sciences (and within anthropology): the explanatory power of two theoretical approaches of viewing agency, one based in Foucault (sweeping discourses) and the other in Geertz (thick description). • Method: Fully deployed ethnography. An ethnography in which Ortner lived herself into the contexts of life among Sherpa and their participation in mountaineering in Nepal.

6. The Wilhite et. al. article • The Wilhite et al article on energy consumption in Japan and Norway works at a kind of middle theoretical level, aiming to illustrate the importance of cultural difference in understanding household energy use, and the implications of this for energy saving policy. • Method: bounded ethnography (relying heavily on open-ended interviews).

7. Ethnography • Long term study • The researcher moves into all of the spaces that she/he sees relevant to the study and remains open to pursuing new subjects as information flows in. In a globalising world, often multi-sited • Follow subjects into the spaces of everyday life • Involves review of written materials, texts • Formal interviews • Extensive informal conversations • Field notes • Less frequent but useful: use of survey questionnaire

8. Discourse Analysis • A search for discursive truths ( a combination of knowledge, language and power) and how these truths normalise what people do and how they do it ( even things that seem eminently physical such as cleanliness, sexuality, thermal comfort). • A method which is often textual. The nature of the texts depends on the research question. For example ‘sustainable development’. Search for dominating views looking at academic papers, books, public policy documents, conference proceedings, interviews in relevant institutions

9. Wilhite et al: purpose Addresses one of the bedrock assumptions in energy. That individuals are free and autonomous deciding units, unaffected by culture are social relations. They make decisions by applying economic utility. The article sets out to undermine this assumption. Culture matters and this means that other things than economics are important to understanding how people use energy.

10. How is the argument (paper) laidout? • Rasjonale: importance and reason for doing the study (p 159) • Purpose (p 160) • Method: how went about studying (answering the research questions) • Findings: what did the study reveal • Discussion: reflections around findings • Conclusions: what are the implications

11. Method • Cross national comparison (aim at learning from similarities and differences) • Urban settings • Two countries with similar development histories • Rich, with similar amounts of household income spent on energy • Differences: climate and culture • Qualitative interviews (aim at valid insights) • Interview guide • Open ended as opposed to closed • Conversational • Usually smaller sample • Stratified sampling to capture important differences (157) as opposed to random sampling

12. Writing • stucture and argument • sequences of interview or quotes to represent points • use the voices of informants (p 167 and 168) • occasionally use numbers or percentages when differences are clear • use of tables where appropriate

13. Conclusions • How theory – methodology – writing – reading are tied together.   • How theories about the world and methods for inquiring about it are tied to philosophy of science.  • Academic disciplines formed around packages of theory and method.   • In upcoming lectures, other disciplinary approaches. • Need for communication, cooperation and mutual understanding between disciplines