Methods texts in social and cultural research have not kept pace with the increasing importance of interdisciplinary work, changing conceptions of the empirical, and the need to communicate with diverse users and audiences. This volume proposes a set of new approaches for the empirical investigation of the contemporary world. Building on the increasing importance of methodologies that cut across disciplines, authors explain the utility for social and cultural research of 'devices' including the list, the pattern, the event and the anecdote.

Social and cultural research has changed dramatically in the last few years in response to changing conceptions of the empirical, an intensification of interest in interdisciplinary work, and the growing need to communicate with diverse users and audiences. Methods texts, however, have not kept pace with these changes. This volume provides a set of new approaches for the investigation of the contemporary world. Building on the increasing importance of methodologies that cut across disciplines, more than twenty expert authors explain the utility of 'devices' for social and cultural research – their essays cover such diverse devices as the list, the pattern, the event, the photograph, the tape recorder and the anecdote. This fascinating collection stresses the open-endedness of the social world, and explores the ways in which each device requires the user to reflect critically on the value and status of contemporary ways of making knowledge. With a range of genres and styles of writing, each chapter presents the device as a hinge between theory and practice, ontology and epistemology, and explores whether and how methods can be inventive. The book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of sociology and cultural studies.

A comprehensive, comprehensible treatment of TRIZ, Engineering of Creativity provides a valuable opportunity for engineers, R&D managers, and consultants to learn and apply innovative concepts and techniques. The author covers every aspect of TRIZ, from the basic concepts to research and developments. He provides step-by-step guidelines, case studies from a variety of engineering disciplines, and first-hand experience in using the methodology. The book addresses both the theoretical and the practical aspects of each concept, heuristic, and tool, giving readers the ability to formulate the best possible solutions for technical systems problems and predict future developments.

Innovative Comparative Methods for Policy Analysis aims to provide a decisive push to the further development and application of innovative and specific comparative methods for the improvement of policy analysis. To take on this challenge, this volume brings together methodologists and specialists from a broad range of social scientific disciplines and policy fields. The work further develops methods for systematic comparative cases analysis in a small-N research design, with a key emphasis laid on policy-oriented applications. Innovative Comparative Methods for Policy Analysis is clearly both a social scientific and policy-driven endeavor; on the one hand, the book engages in an effort to further improve social scientific methods, but on the other hand this effort also intends to provide useful, applied tools for policy analysts and the "policy community" alike. Though quite a variety of methods and techniques are touched upon in this volume, its focus is mainly laid on two recently developed research methods/techniques which enable researchers to systematically compare a limited number of cases; Qualitative Comparative Analysis(QCA) and Fuzzy-Sets (FS).

This book demonstrates how and why vitalism - the idea that life cannot be explained by the principles of mechanism - matters now. Vitalism resists closure and reductionism in the life sciences whilst simultaneously addressing the object of life itself. The aim of this collection is to consider the questions that vitalism makes it possible to ask: questions about the role and status of life across the sciences, social sciences and humanities and questions about contingency, indeterminacy, relationality and change. All have special importance now, as the concepts of complexity, artificial life and artificial intelligence, information theory and cybernetics become increasingly significant in more and more fields of activity.

"Produced by members of the Centre for Imaginative Ethnography, this collection introduces the idea of an imaginative and creative approach to anthropological inquiry, one that is collaborative, open-ended, embodied, affective, and experimental. Rather than structuring the book around traditional methods like interviewing, participant observation, and documentary research, the authors organize their thoughts around different methodologies--sensing, walking, writing, performing, and recording. As well, innovative, practical exercises are included that allow ethnographers to not just 'talk the talk', but also 'walk the walk' so they can deepen, complicate, and extend ethnographic inquiry. A list of additional resources at the end of each chapter provide rich support for those who want to pursue more imaginative and creative methodologies."--

Inventive Engineering is an emerging engineering science focused on the conceptual designing processes whereby creative, or inventive, designs are developed. Its core concepts are too often unknown and even surprising, but they are also feasible and can be learned, leading to potentially patentable designs. Inventive engineers have a tremendou

This book presents selected papers from the 6th International Conference on Inventive Systems and Control (ICISC 2022), held on 6–7 January 2022 at JCT College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, India. The conference proceedings of ICISC 2022 includes an analysis of the class of intelligent systems and control techniques that utilizes various artificial intelligence technologies, where there is no mathematical models and system available to make them remain controlled. Inspired by various existing intelligent techniques, the primary goal of ICISC 2022 proceedings is to present the emerging innovative models to tackle the challenges faced by the existing computing and communication technologies.

“The ‘inside-the-box approach’ can reveal key opportunities for innovation that are hiding in plain sight” (Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive). The traditional attitude toward creativity in the American business world is to “think outside the box”—to brainstorm without restraint in hopes of coming up with a breakthrough idea, often in moments of crisis. Sometimes it works, but it’s a problem-specific solution that does nothing to engender creative thinking more generally. Inside the Box demonstrates Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT), which systemizes creativity as part of the corporate culture. This counterintuitive and powerfully effective approach to creativity requires thinking inside the box, working in one’s familiar world to create new ideas independent of specific problems. SIT’s techniques and principles have instilled creative thinking into such companies as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and other industry leaders. Inside the Box shows how corporations have successfully used SIT in business settings as diverse as medicine, technology, new product development, and food packaging. Dozens of books discuss how to make creative thinking part of a corporate culture, but none takes the innovative and unconventional approach of Inside the Box. With “inside the box” thinking, companies of any size can become sufficiently creative to solve problems even before they develop and to innovate on an ongoing basis. It’s a system that works! “Boyd and Goldenberg explain the basic building blocks for creativity and by doing so help all of us better express our potential” (Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational).

"This work is a comprehensive, four-volume reference addressing major issues, trends, and areas for advancement in information management research, containing chapters investigating human factors in IT management, as well as IT governance, outsourcing, and diffusion"--Provided by publisher.