Towards a Process-Oriented Methodology: Modern Social Science Research Methods and Norbert Elias's Figurational Sociology

Abstract

This paper suggests that Norbert Elias's conception of process-oriented methodology consists of four stages: (1) explicating the researcher's theoretical and personal perspectivity; (2) reconstructing the figuration's rules and social structure using standardized data; (3) analysing the individual's placement within, perception of and ability to change the figuration, using open-ended data, and; (4) exploring the figuration's sociogenesis, using process-produced data. Having explicated this figurational methodological approach we will demonstrate how it can be used to illuminate contemporary discussions of: (a) the relationship between theory and data; (b) mixed methods research; (c) multi-level analysis; (d) process-produced data; (e) longitudinal research; and (f) methods of historical research.