Abduction is an approach to theory-building that involves identifying puzzles that the researcher seeks to engage with by participating in and observing social life and engaging with existing theory.

Affective (or ‘affect’) is a broad, encompassing term that is understood here to refer to the capacities of entities to physically, psychologically, emotionally or socially change their state. This usage is based on new materialist theory; it focuses attention on how matter changes through intra-actions enabled by assemblages. The emphasis here is on flows and entanglements that connect human and non-human entities.

Appropriation is taking something for one’s own use.

Axiology refers to the importance of values – aesthetic, ethical and epistemic – in shaping processes and practices of producing knowledge through research.