We analyze the relations between ethnographic data and theory through an examination of materiality in research practices, arguing that data production is a form of material theorizing. This entails reviewing and (re-)applying practice-theoretical discussions on materiality to questions of ethnography, and moving from understanding theory primarily as ideas to observing theorizing in all steps of research practice. We introduce “pocketing” as a heuristic concept to analyze how and when ethnographic data materializes: the concept defines data’s materiality relationally, through the affective and temporal dimensions of practice. It is discussed using two examples: in a study on everyday architectural experience where ethnographic data materialized as bodies affected by architecture; and in a study on digital cooperation where research data’s materialization was distributed over time according to the use of a company database. By conceptualizing data’s materiality as practice-bound, “pocketing” facilitates understanding the links between data and theory in ethnographic data production.

中文翻译：

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“口袋”研究数据？作为材料理论的人种学数据生产

我们通过考察研究实践中的物质性来分析人种学数据与理论之间的关系，认为数据生产是物质理论化的一种形式。这需要回顾和（重新）将关于重要性的实践理论讨论应用于人种学问题，并从主要将理论理解为思想，在研究实践的所有步骤中观察理论化。我们引入“口袋”作为一个启发式概念来分析人种学数据如何以及何时具体化：该概念通过实践的情感和时间维度关系性地定义数据的重要性。它使用两个例子进行讨论：在日常建筑经验的研究中，人种学数据具体化为受建筑影响的身体；在一项关于数字合作的研究中，研究数据的物化根据公司数据库的使用随时间分布。通过将数据的重要性概念化为受实践约束，“口袋”有助于理解人种学数据生产中数据与理论之间的联系。