Abstract
Political scientists have started to focus on ‘practice’ as the smallest unit of analysis. Following a broader turn in the social sciences, the practice focus provides multiple advantages, including better conceptualizations of short-term social change, getting closer to the everyday activities of those speaking, writing and doing politics, appropriate conceptualization of agency-structure dynamics, or forms of analysis resonating with other communities than scholarly ones. This contribution asks what the methodological implications of the practice turn are. It is argued that the practice focus does not only imply a certain ‘theory’ but also a certain methodology. I advance the term praxiography to speak about the forms of analysis produced by practice researchers. I discuss key guidelines of praxiographic research on two levels: first, general research strategies that provide empirical access points, second, guidelines for data collection in the frame of participant observation, expert interviews, and document analysis. I conclude in arguing that although praxiography is context driven, and hence requires to be tailored to the research problem, it is vital to reflect on the methodological repertoire of praxiographic research.
Highlights
From practice theory to praxiographyPraxiography entails a certain style of doing analysis and requires coping with a set of distinct problems
While the majority of praxiographers makes use of documents in one way or the other, a telling example of how documents can be used to reconstruct practices is the work of Thomas Hausschild (2005)
Practice theory implies developing distinct research approaches that provide for a meaningful ‘search and find strategy’, a form of reconstruction and a way of dealing with empirical material
Summary
Praxiography entails a certain style of doing analysis and requires coping with a set of distinct problems Many of these problems are familiar and have been discussed in ethnography (or debates on actor-network theory). My goal is to outline a set of problems and challenges that the majority of praxiographers will face, to discuss strategies of coping with them and to reflect on procedures of data production Such a discussion fills a major gap in the present practice turn discourse. On a secondary level this paper is motivated by the observation that the discussion of methodology, research strategies and methods within Political Science and International Relations is often too narrow. I discuss three: participant observation, (expert) interviews, and document analysis
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
