ABSTRACT
Each chapter in this reader is attempting to provide insights on the relationship between producing knowledge or meanings about the world, theoretical foundations in which disciplines are embedded and the actual practice of doing research. Regardless of which discipline each of us is working within, all of us are socialized into a methodology—by which I mean a theoretical framework that derives from a research tradition. In order to justify our choice of methodology, I would argue that we need to be able to articulate its characteristics, analyze the categories of analysis that it takes for granted, be alert to the ways that these categories structure our opinions and provide us with criteria to make judgments about social experience; in short we need to be aware of how our choice of research methodology forms a context and rationale against which we evaluate other research approaches.
