Fieldwork as Inquiry in Management Research: Dancing with the Field

Abstract

Most approaches to qualitative research methods in management and organization studies (MOS) implicitly enact spatial perspectives, crystallized in the idea of “accessing the field.” Field sites are thus performed as objective spaces in which research takes place. In this paper, we set out to challenge this spatial perspective by developing a processual approach that conceptualizes fieldwork as “inquiry” as defined by John Dewey. To this end, we draw on an inter-case analysis of four independent research projects to demonstrate the processual, fluid, continuous, and shared constitution of a field of inquiry. We call this alternative approach “dancing with the field.” It allows us to move beyond the highly spatialized notion of access to the field and to materialize or prioritize different forms of relationality. We understand “accessing the field” and “dancing with the field” as two intertwined and complementary modes of both attachment to and detachment from the field. We reflect on the methodological implications of these movements.