IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-05414554.html

Fieldwork as inquiry in management research: dancing with the field

Author

Listed:
  • François-Xavier de Vaujany

    (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Jeremy Aroles

    (University of York [York, UK])

  • Vincent Berthelot

    (UCO - Université Catholique de l'Ouest)

  • Marine Dagorn

    (EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique, Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, ARENES - Arènes: politique, santé publique, environnement, médias - UR - Université de Rennes - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Rennes - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique - UR2 - Université de Rennes 2 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UR - Université de Rennes, IDM - Institut du Management - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique, RSMS - Recherche sur les services et le management en santé - UR - Université de Rennes - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique - INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Mickael Peiro

    (LGCO - Laboratoire Gouvernance et Contrôle Organisationnel - UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse, IUT Toulouse Auch Castres - Institut Universitaire de Technologie - Paul Sabatier - UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • François-Xavier de Vaujany & Jeremy Aroles & Vincent Berthelot & Marine Dagorn & Mickael Peiro, 2025. "Fieldwork as inquiry in management research: dancing with the field," Post-Print hal-05414554, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05414554
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a
    for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05414554. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.