Routledge Companion to Military Research Methods

Alison J. Williams is Senior Lecturer in Political Geography in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University, UK. She is co-editor of From Above: war, violence and verticality (2013) and co-author of The Value of the University Armed Service Units (2015). K. Neil Jenkings is Senior Research Associate in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University, UK. He is the author/editor of numerous titles, including most recently The Value of the University Armed Service Units (co-author, 2015) .Matthew F. Rech is Lecturer in Human Geography in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental sciences at Plymouth University, UK. His research engages with everyday militarism and popular culture, particularly in the British context.Rachel Woodward is Professor of Human Geography in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University, UK. She is the author of Military Geographies (2004) and co-author of Sexing the Soldier (Routledge, 2007).

• An Introduction to Military Research Methods, Matthew F. Rech, K. Neil Jenkings, Alison J. Williams & Rachel Woodward SECTION 1: Texts Reflections on Research in Military Archives, Matthew Farish From Declassified Documents to Redacted Files: Tracing Military Compensation, Emily Gilbert Biography and the military archive, Isla Forsyth Analysing Newspapers: Considering the use of print media sources in military research, K. Neil Jenkings & Daniel Bos The uses of military memoirs in military research, Rachel Woodward & K. Neil Jenkings A Military Definition of Reality: Researching Literature and Militarization, John Beck Archaeological Approaches to the Study of Recent Warfare, John Schofield & Wayne Cocroft SECTION 2: Interactions Comparing Militaries: The Challenges of Datasets and Process-Tracing, Jocelyn Mawdsley Conducting ‘Community Orientated’ Military Research, Ross McGarry Ethnography in Conflict Zones: The Perils of Researching Private Security Contractors, Amanda Chisholm Researching Proscribed Armed Groups: Interviewing Loyalist and Republican Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, Neil Ferguson Psychoanalytically-informed Reflexive Research with Service Spouses, Sue Jervis Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis and the Study of Action-in-Interaction in Military Settings, Christopher Elsey, Michael Mair, Paul V. Smith, Patrick G. Watson Researching Normativity and Non-Normativity in Military Organizations, Aaron Belkin SECTION 3: Experiences The Aesthetic of Being in the Field: Participant Observation with Infantry, John Hockey Ethnography and the Embodied Life of War-making, Ken MacLeish Biting the Bullet: my time with the British Army, Vron Ware Researching Military Men, Stephen Atherton Putting ‘Insider-ness’ to Work: Researching Identity Narratives of Career Soldiers about to Leave the Army, David Walker Researching at military airshows: a dialogue about ethnography and autoethnography, Matthew F. Rech & Alison J. Williams Perceptions of past conflict: researching modern understandings of historic battlefields, Justin Sikora SECTION 4 - Senses Researching the visual and material cultures of war and conflict, Jane Tynan Studying Military Image Banks: A Social Semiotic Approach, Ian Roderick Critical methodologies for researching military-themed videogames, Daniel Bos

‘In the face of increasing conflict and growing security and defence threats, social scientists today are increasingly interested in the armed forces. Drawing together leading scholars in the field, this volume dissects the distinctive methodological challenges which attend military research. It will be required reading for any scholar interested in researching the armed forces.’-- Anthony King, Warwick University, UK