Identifying research strategies and methodological priorities for the study of demanding energy

Abstract

This chapter revisits the whole edited collection with an explicit focus upon research strategies for studying demanding energy. Investigating what energy is for, it argues, involves embedding three methodological priorities into research designs: (1) posing questions that focus upon social dynamics rather than upon energy itself; (2) reflecting upon how particular units of study facilitate the examination of different types of interconnections; and (3) incorporating spatial and temporal dynamics into research designs. The approaches to case selection and sampling that follow from these priorities are then elaborated. By challenging the idea that energy research must place energy at the centre of all of its research questions, this chapter provides openings for developing innovative accounts of what energy is for and how it is changing.