This 22-minute film captures a conversation between the users of two social science research methods, experiments and ethnography. The conversation was captured at the end of a session at the fifth Scottish Graduate School of Social Science Summer School in which Daniel Nettle and Sam Hillyard drew on their experiences of working with these methods. They describe how the methods are quite different in terms of some basic elements of social science research design, such as replicability and generalisability, but go on to note that there are some surprising similarities in terms of the need of the researcher to develop rapport when collecting data. They also discuss issues such as the ethics of the researcher’s relationships with gatekeepers and with people participating in studies, including the challenges of how best to describe the purpose of the research. The film also includes a contribution from the audience at the event, which runs for a further 5 minutes.

Academics in conversation: Sam Hillyard, Durham University, and Daniel Nettle, Newcastle University.