Knowledge2Go

Knowledge2Go: Social science research in the knowledge economy

by Martin Terre Blanche and Kevin Durrheim

Knowledge2Go takes a new approach to the traditional social science methodology textbook. Where most traditional texts foreground research methods, Knowledge2Go shows the beginning social science researcher how to enter and participate in networks of knowledge production. Where traditional texts reflect the measured pace of academic research, Knowledge2Go introduces students to both traditional research techniques and the principles and technologies of a fast paced knowledge economy.

Knowledge2Go is intended for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in research methods courses, as well as at established social science researchers wishing to catch up on contemporary information and knowledge skills. Although it embraces a much broader and livelier understanding of research than is usual in methodology texts, it retains enough of the standard material to make it easily prescribable for research methods courses. It is explicitly intended for a global market.

The text is divided into four sections – ‘positioning’, ‘producing’, ‘tools’ and ’settings’. Each section contains a mix of explanatory text, applied examples, critical perspectives, and links to further resources. In addition, the text is accompanied by a CD containing a large collection of public domain textual and software resources.

Positioning presents knowledge work as a constantly unfolding and embodied enterprise, showing students how to creatively engage with and immerse themselves in the overlapping and competing networks, communities of practice and ‘invisible colleges’ that define the social world. The section introduces the idea that research is a social and political activity that involves working with people and in communities, as much as it involves working with information. It contextualises social science research within the broader domain of knowledge work and the knowledge economy and provides a host of practical tips and examples on how to operate in a networked world.

Producing provides practical strategies for creating a variety of knowledge products, including journal articles and academic theses, but also conference and other presentations, grant proposals, commissioned research reports, popular articles, blogs, databases, and a variety of collaborative publications. The section starts by showing how to rapidly scan a field in terms of published material (academic, ‘grey’ and popular literature), as well as how to ‘map’ key institutions, networks, and individuals; and how to engage with these sources more deeply. It then introduces an array of strategies for collecting empirical material (including all the usual quantitative and qualitative research designs), how to choose among and combine them, and how to analyse the data (including all the usual quantitative and qualitative analytic techniques). Finally, the section covers how to ‘package’ and distribute knowledge products for maximum effect.

Tools is a compendium of specific techniques and technologies that can be used when needed, mixed and matched to suit the contingencies of a particular situation. The emphasis is on providing a compact sketch of the most essential points relating to each technique, together with pointers to the best sources for obtaining more detailed information. Each tool is succinctly and visually presented across a two-page spread. Topics covered include key entries in the SAGE Encyclopaedia of Social Science Research Methods, as well as networking and collaboration tools (such as blogs, wikis and syndication) which have only recently become available to researchers. The tools section is richly cross-referenced with the other three sections.

Settings is similar to tools, but covers important settings in which research is done – in each case briefly highlighting typical knowledge practices in the setting, important controversies and key resources. Copious cross-references are again included to the other sections. Some of the key settings covered are postgraduate academic research, media, public health, clinical medicine, environmental research and activism, marketing, industrial and corporate settings, and the NGO sector.

The bulk of the material will be written by the two authors. However, we also hope to involve leading international experts (as well as less well known authors with particularly interesting perspectives) to write some of the contributions in the ‘tools’ and ’settings’ sections. In this way we hope to maintain a high degree of focus and coherence, while also catering for specialist expertise and encouraging collaborative work. We will also make provision for contributions on less frequently used tools (or less prominent settings) to be included as supplementary material on the CD and website. Knowledge2Go will be a visually striking text, and the message that research is a creative, fast-paced enterprise will be communicated as much by the visual design as by the content.