New materialist social inquiry: designs, methods and the research-assemblage

Nick J. Fox, Pam Alldred

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

426 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper discusses issues of research design and methods in new materialist social inquiry, an approach that is attracting increasing interest across the social sciences as an alternative to either realist or constructionist ontologies. New materialism de-privileges human agency, focusing instead upon how assemblages of the animate and inanimate together produce the world, with fundamental implications for social inquiry methodology and methods. Key to our exploration is the materialist notion of a ‘research-assemblage’ comprising researcher, data, methods and contexts. We use this understanding first to explore the micropolitics of the research process, and then – along with a review of 30 recent empirical studies – to establish a framework for materialist social inquiry methodology and methods. We discuss the epistemological consequences of adopting a materialist ontology.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)399-414
Number of pages16
JournalInternational Journal of Social Research Methodology
Volume18
Issue number4
Early online date6 Jun 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Jul 2015
Externally publishedYes

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