Detta är en bok om samhällsvetenskaplig forskningsmetod. Det finns många läroböcker om metod, men ambitionen har inte varit att skriva en traditionell lärobok. Snarare rymmer boken ett antal personliga betraktelser och diskussioner av metodfrågor och forskningspraktik, i en del fall baserade på erfarenheter från skribenternas konkreta forskningsprojekt. Förhoppningen är att kunna bidra med reflektioner och perspektiv som kan vara till hjälp vid de metodologiska vägval som är en del av samhällsforskarens vardag. Boken kan användas såväl i undervisningssammanhang som av forskare eller andra med intresse för samhällsvetenskaplig metod.

The phenomenon of toxicity, which in this context refers to aggressive, harassing and/or insulting communication and behavior in online gaming, is a well-known problem in the gaming industry. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the discourse about toxicity in online forums about the first person shooter game Overwatch. How is toxicity described in the online forums? What themes can be identified in the forums? What experiences of toxicity are discussed, and what explanations are offered in the forums? Thus, it is a qualitative study of the discourse about toxicity in Overwatch in the online forums about the game. The empirical material consist of approximately 150 pages of downloaded forum discussions, from the period 2017-2018. In the forum discussions, several analytical dimensions may be discerned. The concepts of anonymity and social deindividuation are often highlighted and regarded as important explanative factors by the participants in the forums. Due to the inherent anonymity in online gaming, it is argued that players may engage in aggressive and harassing behavior, which they normally would not do in face-to-face interaction. Another important dimension concerns what may be conceptualized as the normalization of toxic behavior. Sometimes, toxicity is described in the forums simply as a fact that players must learn to deal with: “Welcome to the internet” as one forum participant wrote. Other times, it is described as a problem that toxic practices are so widespread that they have a negative impact on the gaming experience. Finally, gender aspects of toxicity in online gaming are also discussed. Female gamers may sometimes be harassed by players using words with sexual connotations, and by calling female gamers “bitch” or similar gendered derogatory remarks. 

In this study, the subject of modern organizational meetings in the public sector is discussed with focus on the concept of time, as a framework for understanding and analyzing modern meetings. How do the members of organizational staff describe and relate to the concept of time, in the context of meetings? Meetings are important for understanding how organizations are constituted in everyday work life, but also for understanding how time during workdays is experienced and socially constructed by the staff members.

It is a qualitative study, where data was gathered in the form of ethnographic field observations (approximately 100 hours of observations) in public organizations, and interviews with managers (6 interviews) on different managerial levels within the organizations. The studied organizations are a public health care institution, and also one university within the Swedish public higher education. Three dimensions of meetings and time are highlighted in the study: using time for meetings, finding time for meetings, and the use of digital technology as a way of saving and taking time for meetings.

The main conclusion of the study is that studying meetings and time, is important for understanding how meetings in modern public organizations are perceived. The social practices of using, finding, saving and taking time for meetings take place within a wider organizational context, and also within a wider personal context, which has implications influencing and changing the agency of time among the staff in the organizations. Likely, this is an important reason for the ambivalence towards meetings within organizations. Additionally, although this study focuses on public organizations, it may be relevant for understanding meetings in other forms of organizations as well.

This article contributes methodological reasoning on how researchers can not only make social problems more sociologically relevant but also make sociology more relevant for research on social problems and social work. Using what David Silverman has described as a “two-step trick”, social problems are made more sociologically relevant, and also sociology is made more relevant for research on social problems. By moving in and out of the sociological territory, researchers may reframe and redefine the object of their studies to gain new insights and perspectives. Three specific examples from different contexts are discussed, in which sociology may function as such a perspective-generating device: institutional treatment, the deaf world and the problem of corruption.

Denna rapport är ett försök att skissera en bild av hur människors uppfattningar och föreställningar om ekonomiska transaktioner via Internet skapas, vidmakthålles och förändras, samt hur dessa kan sättas i samband med den massmediala diskursen i ämnet. Rapporten är i första hand en litteraturstudie. Men den innehåller också exempel och tolkningar från tre parintervjuer där paren har skiftande erfarenheter av Internet och e-handel. I genomgången av litteraturen riktas uppmärksamheten främst mot tre områden: risk och riskbedömningar, massmediernas betydelse för människors upplevelser av risk samt dimensionerna av förtroende och skepsis. Kortfattat ges även en bakgrundsbild av informationssamhället och Internethandeln.

This presentation deals with the notion of "the sensitive interview". Many subjects in the field of criminology may be considered "sensitive"; they involve actions (one’s own or others) that may be deemed unlawful or immoral. In this presentation it is argued that the presumed sensitivity of a given subject must be considered potential rather than given beforehand. It is not an intrinsic, essential part of a given subject. Rather, it should be viewed as a result of the interaction which occurs during an interview. It is through the very act of treating a potentially sensitive subject in a cautious way that the subject is made sensitive. Viewed in this sense, the delicate or sensitive nature of a subject is in fact constituted as such during the interview and not by the subject matter. In this presentation, the notion of the sensitive interview is discussed and analyzed from an interactional perspective and by using concrete research examples. Traditional advice on how to deal with sensitive subjects during interviews is discussed. Normally, the interviewer is supposed to treat the presumed sensitive subject with great caution and care during an interview. The interviewer is supposed to start with less threatening questions, be sympathetic and accepting during the interview, not "pushing" the interviewed person into talking about issues that he or she wants to avoid, and so on. Although advice like the above naturally may be valid in some cases, if one follows them without discrimination they can also mean not getting the most from an interview. In fact, by treating a subject as sensitive the interviewer may end up with an impoverished and less interesting material. By avoiding treating a given subject as sensitive beforehand, it may be possible to obtain a less trivial and more rewarding interview material.

Syftet med rapporten är att analysera dokumenteringspraktiker inom det medicinska fältet med hjälp av kvalitativa metoder och en etnografisk ansats. Observationer och intervjuer genomfördes vid tre vårdcentraler i Skåne. I rapporten studeras förutsättningarna för, konsekvenserna av och förhållningssätten till expanderande dokumenteringspraktiker med avseende på två delvis överlappande aspekter: a) de dokumenteringspraktiker som är kopplade till dokumenten samt b) vilken mening och funktion aktörerna tillskriver dessa praktiker. Ett tydligt resultat är att det vid de studerade vårdcentralerna förekommer en stor mängd dokumenteringspraktiker, beträffande såväl produktion av egen dokumentation som konsumtion av andras dokumentation. Personalen beskriver i många fall en spänning mellan dokumenteringsarbetet och det direkta patientarbetet. Det finns tecken på en dokumenteringskritik, särskilt i de fall där dokumenteringen uppfattas som onödigt tidskrävande, krånglig eller dåligt fungerande. I förhållande till detta är det en utmaning att trots kritiken ändå urskilja medicinskt och kollegialt meningsfull dokumentering, där rimligtvis professionerna bör tillskrivas expertisen inom området.

Dokumentering av varierat slag har kommit att bli ett vardagligt inslag för anställda i en rad offentliga verksamheter. Inom sjukvård och socialtjänst är detta synligt i checklistor, manualer, bedömningsinstrument och inte minst i mycket omfattande datasystem som ska bemästras av personalen. Vi kallar denna typ av administration dokumenteringspraktiker, ett samlande begrepp för arbetet med redan etablerade såväl som nya administrativa rutiner. Vad händer med det vardagliga arbetet när dokumenteringspraktiker expanderar och görs till ett alltmer framträdande inslag i den dagliga verksamheten? Vad gör professionella med dokumenten och vad gör dokumenten med de professionella? I en jämförande studie undersöks olika enheter inom både socialtjänsten och sjukvården med hjälp av observationer och intervjuer. Det ökande kravet på mer och/eller bättre dokumentering omfattar både sjukvård och socialtjänst vars verksamheter kan beskrivas som präglade av en allmän dokumenteringskultur. Det finns dock lokala variationer i hur dokumenteringen hanteras. Tre exempel: 1) Dokumentationskraven kan bemötas utifrån ett utforskande förhållningssätt eller ett byråkratiskt sådant; 2) dokumenteringen tycks inordnas i olika prioriteringsordningar (t.ex. juridiska, moraliska, ekonomiska) vilka betonas i vissa sammanhang men utelämnas i andra; 3) dokumentering kan utövas som en integrerad del i arbetet eller som ett extraarbete vid sidan av "egentligt" arbete. Med ett jämförande perspektiv kan vi urskilja specifika lokala dokumenteringskulturer och avser presentera gemensamma och särskiljande drag i det vardagliga (dokumenterings)arbetet inom socialtjänst och sjukvård.

This paper discusses modern organizational meetings in the public sector, with a focus on time, specifically the planning and scheduling of time among managers . In this qualitative analysis, data were gathered through an ethnographic study of managers in several public organizations, all in Sweden . During interviews and field observations, managers told about their time work involving strategies for dealing with their fully booked calendars, or for handling what they described as boring or meaningless meetings . These strategies can be conceptualized as a form of ”meeting resistance” among the managers in these organizations . Their retold experiences and strategies raise issues of meeting resistance in relation to the meetingization of contemporary work life and, in a wider sense, questions of power and control over time at work . By using a variety of strategies for negotiating and resisting the rule of the calendar, managers may achieve a greater sense of control over their time . Nevertheless, despite their strategies and resistance, the machinery of meetings is hard to stop due to an Eigendynamik of meetings.