Power and Method

For the past two decades there has been much debate about method in the social sciences, focusing on issues of validity, reliability, and compatibility. During this same period, an alternative perspective examining the relation between power and method has started to emerge. This book draws from a range of disciplines to bring together scholars in the field of methodology, to discuss the underlying belief that method can no longer be understood as an innocent tool to be used by disinterested technicians. Instead, method is seen as part of a political process that shapes notions of legitimate knowledge, relations between groups and the nature of the questions posed.