Plugging One Text Into Another

Abstract

In this article, the authors describe the work of their recently published book, Thinking with Theory in Qualitative Research: Viewing Data Across Multiple Perspectives. The purpose of this article is to show how they use theory to think with their data (and use data to think with theory) in order to accomplish a reading of data that is both within and against interpretivism. The authors put to use a concept picked up from Deleuze and Guattari to capture their thinking with theory in qualitative research: “plugging in.” They engage “plugging in” as a machinic process that works against conventional coding in qualitative data interpretation and analysis by explaining and enacting the methodological maneuvers taken up in their thinking with theory. The authors conclude that “plugging in” positions both data and theory as machines and reveals both their supple substance and their machinic potential to interrupt and transform other machines, other data, and other knowledge projects.