Interrelation between type of analysis and type of interpretation

There is a vast variety of research methodologies and methods of analysis in sociology. Indeed, «research practice» – a major constituent of «invisible colleges» or «schools of thought» – is largely defined by choices of methodology, methods and types of interpretation. The aim of this book is to study this variety in its research applications in diverse sociological specialities and to analyze what types of methods are applied and in which context, why those particular methods, and not others, are used, and what those methods produce compared to results from other methods. Examining several cross-disciplinary and cross-national projects, the authors of this volume also demonstrate how these methods and results, while closely associated, are far from being scientifically determined. Using the metaphor of a «scientific language» to encompass research methodology and its practice in a social context, the authors explain that methodological communities function much like language communities with similar problems – such as «translation» from one community to another – but also benefit from the richness and diversity language brings.