Interpretivism

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Interpretivism

• Bruce Johnson
• Autumn Research Education School
• 21st 23rd April 2006

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Aim of session

• Interpretivism is an ism that draws together a
  lose church of qualitative research approaches
  including phenomenology, hermeneutics and
  symbolic interactionism.
• In this session we will
• look at what these approaches have in common by
  examining 10 Interpretivist themes
• discuss whether we have become preoccupied with
  methodological questions at the expense of
  learning qualitative methods, and
• discuss whether an argument for greater
  pragmatism in qualitative research can be
  sustained.

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What is Interpretive Research?

• Interpretive research focuses on identifying,
  documenting, and knowing through
  interpretation the world views, values,
  meanings, beliefs, thoughts and general
  characteristics of life events, situations,
  ceremonies and specific phenomena under
  investigation,

4
What is Interpretive Research?

• with the goal being to document and interpret as
  fully as possible the totality of whatever is
  being studied in particular contexts from the
  peoples viewpoint or frame of reference
• Leininger, M. (1985) Qualitative Research Methods
  in Nursing. Orlando, Fla. Grune Stratton, p.
  5.

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Grounding our discussions in research (Johnson,
Howard participants)

• Retrospective investigation of trial of share
  program (2006)

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Grounding our discussions in research (Johnson,
Howard participants)

• Retrospective investigation of trial of share
  program (2006)
• Case study of Personal Safety curriculum trial
  (2004)

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Grounding our discussions in research (Johnson,
Howard participants)

• Retrospective investigation of trial of share
  program (2006)
• Case study of Personal Safety curriculum trial
  (2004)
• Eight Years On Longitudinal study of childhood
  and adolescent resilience (1997-2004)

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Grounding our discussions in research (Johnson,
Howard participants)

• Retrospective investigation of trial of share
  program (2006)
• Case study of Personal Safety curriculum trial
  (2004)
• Eight Years On Longitudinal study of childhood
  and adolescent resilience (1997-2004)
• Resilient Teachers study (2004)

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Grounding our discussions in research (Johnson,
Howard participants)

• Adolescent Resilience (CRC) (2002)

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Grounding our discussions in research (Johnson,
Howard participants)

• Adolescent Resilience (CRC) (2002)
• Transition Study (NSW) (2000)

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Grounding our discussions in research (Johnson,
Howard participants)

• Adolescent Resilience (CRC) (2002)
• Transition Study (NSW) (2000)
• Teachers Views on Child Abuse (1995)

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Themes of interpretive research

• Drawn from
• Patton, M (2002) Qualitative research and
  evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage, pp.
  40-41.

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Themes of interpretive research

• Drawn from
• Patton, M (2002) Qualitative research and
  evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage, pp.
  40-41.
• (Bruces Research Bible)

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1. Naturalistic Inquiry

• Studying real life situations as they unfold
• Non-manipulative, unobstrusive, and
  noncontrolling
• Openness to whatever emerges lack of
  predetermined constraints on outcomes.

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2. Emergent design flexibility

• Openness to changing inquiry as understanding
  deepens or situations change responsive
• Researcher avoids getting locked into rigid
  designs

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3. Purposeful Sampling

• Cases for study (people, organisations, events,
  cultures) are selected because they are the focus
  of interest
• sampling can be emergent too

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4. Qualitative Data

• Observations that yield detailed, thick
  description
• Interviews that capture peoples personal
  perspectives and experiences
• Careful and close document analysis

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5. Personal Engagement

• The researcher gets close to the people,
  situation, or phenomenon under study
• Researchers personal experiences and insights
  are important in understanding the phenomenon

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6. Empathic Neutrality

• The researcher takes an empathic stance to seek
  understanding without judgment
• Shows openness, sensitivity, respect, awareness,
  responsiveness

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7. Systems awareness

• Researcher alert to dynamics of systems
• Attends to contextual complexity

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8. Inductive analysis

• Immersion in the details and specifics of the
  data to identify important categories, themes,
  dimensions and inter-relationships
• Begins by exploring then confirming

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9. Holistic perspective

• The whole phenomenon under study is understood as
  a complex system that is more than the sum of
  parts
• Focus on complex interdependencies NOT on a few
  discrete variables

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10. Credibility

• Conveys findings with authenticity and
  trustworthiness
• Uses data
• Conveys understanding of the phenomenon in all
  its complexity

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What is Interpretive Research

• Interpretive research focuses on identifying,
  documenting, and knowing through
  interpretation the world views, values,
  meanings, beliefs, thoughts and general
  characteristics of life events, situations,
  ceremonies and specific phenomena under
  investigation,

25
What is Interpretive Research?

• with the goal being to document and interpret as
  fully as possible the totality of whatever is
  being studied in particular contexts from the
  peoples viewpoint or frame of reference
• Leininger, M. (1985) Qualitative Research Methods
  in Nursing. Orlando, Fla. Grune Stratton, p.
  5.