ABSTRACT
Law courts and legal processes have been perspicuous sites for ethnomethodological investigation. This chapter discusses some of the attractions the courts hold for ethnomethodology, and then focuses on court cases in which 'science' and 'scientific methods' are perspicuous themes for investigation and interrogation. The methodology of the court occasionally incorporates scientific and social scientific advice, but it is organized independently of any professional academic discipline. The source of the idea of perspicuous sites for ethnomethodological investigations is Harold Garfinkel, who speaks of 'perspicuous settings' for ethnomethodological studies. For the past thirty-plus years, some of the most notable ethnomethodological studies have made use of materials from trial courts, pre-trial negotiations, police interrogations, and other routine sites of legal and criminological practice. The tension between ethnomethodological and constructionist studies extends to studies of science in the courts. The courts, especially in the Anglo-American tradition, but also in other traditions, build in specific provision for non-specialized participation, publicly accessible processes, and transparent language.
