Praktijkanalyses

Praktijkanalyses, or practice analyses, is a methodological approach used in social sciences to study everyday practices—the organized patterns of action that people perform in real life settings. Rather than focusing on individuals in isolation, practice analyses examine how actions are distributed among people, tools, spaces, rules, and meanings to form stable social orders.

Drawing on practice theory (including Schatzki, Reckwitz, and Shove), this approach treats practices as the site where knowledge, skills, and materials come together. A practice is seen as a bundle of elements: embodied competences, material infrastructures (devices, spaces), and the meanings that guide behavior. Change is studied as a rearrangement of these elements rather than a simple shift in attitudes.

Common methods include field observation, ethnography, video analysis, and reflectively structured interviews that focus on routines and contingencies. Researchers map practice networks, identify routine sequences, and examine how artifacts and technologies enable or constrain actions. Analyses often emphasize context, temporality, and the social organization of work.

Applications span education, healthcare, manufacturing, service industries, and urban planning. Praktijkanalyses can reveal why certain procedures are followed, how safety or efficiency emerges, and where interventions may alter outcomes by adjusting the practice assemblage rather than pursuing only individual change.

Strengths include detailed, context-sensitive understanding of everyday life and the ability to inform design and policy by targeting practices themselves. Limitations include intensive data collection, challenges of generalization, and the need for careful interpretation to avoid subjective bias.