This text is both a practical account of the research process, and an invitation to think more deeply and reflexively about the imperfect, multifaceted nature of social research itself.

Russell Hitchings was a Professor of Human Geography at University College London. His research focused on everyday practice, energy consumption and nature experience and he had been lucky to study these themes in a variety of contexts all around the world. He was particularly interested in how we use talk to examine these topics, having done a lot interviewing about them. He also used focus groups, solicited diaries, observation, and survey methods when that seemed like a good idea. Originally from South Wales, he spent many years at UCL, London.