Queer methodologies and social science

This chapter provides a succinct yet comprehensive review of scholarship on queer methodologies. The main aim is to offer the reader, whether new to the field or an advanced student or researcher, a systematic account of what queer methodologies entail. Accordingly, the chapter begins by focusing briefly on four basic questions: the meaning of "methods" in social research, the significance of the term "methodology, " the implications of the word '"queer, " and the scope of "queer theory. " It then provides an overview of the need for queer methodologies, their genesis, and their characteristics. The chapter also considers issues of ethics, positionality, reflexivity, validity, and data analysis. While it is possible to queer any discipline, that is, challenge the heteronormative biases embedded in the basic tenets of any subject, this chapter confines itself to a discussion of queer methodologies in the social sciences. In doing so, it highlights the complexities and contradictions embodied by all that can be subsumed under the term.