This groundbreaking and innovative text addresses the deep ontological and epistemological commitments that underpin conventional positivist methods and then demonstrates how ''method'' can be understood in much broader and more interesting ways. Drawing on a broad range of philosophical and methodological theory as well as a wide variety of artistic sources from fine art to cinema and from literature to the blues, leading contemporary thinker Michael Shapiro shows the reader how a more open understanding of the concept of method is rewarding and enlightening. His notion of 'writing-as-method' is enacted throughout the text and offers a stimulating alternative for students to positivist social science methods. This is essential reading for all students and faculty with an interest in post-positivist methods.