Law, John. 2004. After Method: Mess in Social Science Research. London ; New York: Routledge.
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3 is "knowing" the metaphor we need?
4 standard research methods are not generally wrong
5 to have rules seems natural
5 people discover what does also determined by the methods
6 are there things "out there" to be discovered?
9 Methods as a security and a guarantee
16 claims the positivist science is in common sense
19 what we know about the method and "hard science" can be applied to social sciences
19 Latour is a materialist: what instruments are in the lab
23 ontology : what is and / or could be
29 inscription devices: counting, labeling. Convert to traceable forms
33— packages like "physics" is like getting a PC, not knowing electronics, physics, chemistry – the "hinterlands"
36— why does science not appear to be constructed
a—Process: → Saying things about objects → results → "reality"
b—delete Process… →saying…
c— = Results ←→ Reality
…out-there-ness is created and accomplished
40— Hinterlands research (List)
41 Assemblage: Orderly, Arranges, Disposed…, ad-hoc-can, be incoherent, very active, tentative
44 Kuhn "Paradigms": Tools to deal with out-there-ness, which is also co-created by the paradigm
51 messy contradictions in medical diagnosis
55 every method assemblage produces its own objects. some objects overlap to mean the "same things"
53 objects are constructed: vague and controversial first, later stable
54 objects are enacted they are real because they are part of a practice
78 messy maps of medical problems. researcher experiences
89 representation is in an allegory which denies being an allegory
98 allegory allows to see several realities at once
98 Western metaphysics allows ambiguity in arts, not in sciences
98 despite pointing out the need for ambiguity, incoherence is not a value in itself
100 Western metaphysics value consistency is good incoherence as bad
reference to loosely structured infrastructure like the bush pump
105f management, spreadsheets, time tracking and rough measures
107 awareness of the time tracking's roughness AND working as if it tracks reality
108 example from ethnographic work: too much was going on. Solution: Choose devices that "other" more (or different?): no tapes, use notes.
110 Two stories of the same "reality": The lab changes incrementally (Administrative view) or in shifts (entrepreneurial)
113 ordering the work needs to "other". It can happen allegorial or representational. If it does not happen, it drowns and dazzle of too much reality
116 like scientists, the Quakers in the meetings try to distinguish (spiritual in-your-head) signal from noise
116 methods amplify a reality
116 all method assemblage distinguish signal from noise
117 Method assemblages are resonators
141 what if our views on the world would only be loosely coupled with "reality" and "paradigms"
150 some realities are more just than others
152 things we could do different
– less things, more process
– achieve symmetry less either/or like "good or bad" or "society or nature"
– multiplicity: the worlds could be otherwise
– reflect on what you make "real", manifest-absent, othered
– goods like truth, politics, justice
– imaginaries and gatherings
– materialities: not only academic text but also novels, images, dance...
– not expecting definitive results
– re-enchantment