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It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it

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.

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It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it

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

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

  3. 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)

  4. 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?

  5. 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

  6. 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.

  7. 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

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

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