From methodology to method and back. Some notes on digital discourse analysis
| Autor: | Ico Maly |
|---|---|
| Přispěvatelé: | Rapid Social and Cultural Transformation: Online & Offline |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | STARTPAGE=1;ENDPAGE=16;TITLE=None Tilburg University-PURE |
| Popis: | Method and methodology are concepts that are used on a daily basis by social science students, researchers, and lecturers. Interestingly, for many students (and also researchers), both concepts have acquired a synonym-like quality. It is not exceptional to read in papers, theses, and published books a description of a method under the ‘methodology’ heading. Seen from a linguistic, anthropological, sociolinguistic, ethnographic, or in general an empirical-interpretative perspective, that is as remarkable as it is sometimes troubling. To cut to the chase: method and methodology are not synonyms. This truism is not another case of semantics either. A methodology encompasses all steps in your research. It includes theoretical perspectives, the formulation of the research question(s), the definition of what counts as data and what does not, and the methods used. A method can clearly never replace a methodology. This perspective on methodology is at the heart of our practices as empirical analysts of human behavior and has a huge impact on how we do (or should do) science, and thus on how we produce knowledge. This little note on methods and methodology doesn’t attempt to be exhaustive, novel, or to contribute to the development of the field of digital discourse analysis, let alone that it aspires to any groundbreaking interventions. The goal is far more modest. I want to insert the old ethnographic principle into the field of digital discourse analysis. In my understanding, methodology is ontological and epistemological perspectives and methods in one. In this merger, the perspectives are foundational and should lead us in our choice of methods and how we deploy those methods. I decided to write this note after many years of supervising student research. The idea is to explain to students what the difference is between a method and a methodology and what it says about our practices in the production of knowledge. Even though it was written for students, I can only hope that it is useful for a broader audience. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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