新经济地理学：方法论的探讨(pdf 23)

Practicing new economic geographies necessarily entails a critical re-evaluation of research methodologies because
of its different substantive research foci. In this article, I examine some methodological implications of the recent
refiguring of the ‘‘economic’’ in economic geography. Some key features of new economic geographies include
understanding the social embeddedness of economic action, mapping shifting identities of social actors, and
exploring the role of material and discursive contexts in shaping economic behavior. I argue that practitioners of new
economic geographies can no longer rely exclusively on established ‘‘scientific’’ methodology for empirical research
and data analysis. Instead, I argue for a process-based methodological framework through which we employ
complementary methodological practices (e.g., tracing actor networks and in situ research) and triangulation, not
only to explore the microfoundations of economic action, but also to generate, in a reflexive manner, theoretical
insights from the multiscalar dimensions of economic action. Keywords: actor networks, new economic geographies,
process-based methodological framework, reflexivity, research practices, triangulation.
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