Charting Intellectual Fields: Sampling Methods

In this paper I focus on sampling methods for investigations that aim to chart intellectual fields. Taking a case study approach, I map out the methods that were used to draw a sample of texts during the second stage of a larger project that falls within the sociology of knowledge. In so doing, I provide insights into the methodological problems encountered during the process of creating a sampling frame for the study. I illustrate the ways in which a number of these problems were dealt with during my research and reflect on some of the issues surrounding the question of representativeness within studies that seek to track intellectual shifts. As a result, I aim to generate discussion about how we might develop rigorous ways to chart intellectual fields and to encourage critical reflection on the grounds upon which claims about particular intellectual developments and shifts within existing literature are based.