How Field Relationships Shape Theorizing. (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Blee, Kathleen
• Other Names: Tavory Iddo guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Sociological methods & research. Volume 48:Number 4(2019)
• Page Start: 739
• Page End: 762
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: field research -- activism -- racist -- negotiation -- rapport -- ethnography; Sociology -- Research -- Periodicals; Sociology -- Methodology -- Periodicals; 301.072
• DOI: 10.1177/0049124117701482
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0049-1241

Abstract

Field relationships shape the questions that researchers ask and the theories they develop. This article compares my interactions with research participants in a study of white supremacists with those in a study of mainstream grassroots activists. It demonstrates how expectations and negotiations with research participants affect theorizing by channeling what researchers are primed to see, what they notice, and what they understand as a puzzle to be investigated.