The rhythms of interpretive research 2006. In addition to fundamental paradigmatic differences in ontological and epistemological assumptions discussed above, interpretive and positivist research differ in several other ways. Many puritan interpretive researchers reject this coding approach as a futile effort to seek consensus or objectivity in a social phenomenon which is essentially subjective. A third technique is documentation , where external and internal documents, such as memos, electronic mails, annual reports, financial statements, newspaper articles, websites, may be used to cast further insight into the phenomenon of interest or to corroborate other forms of evidence. Further, their personal insights, knowledge, and experiences of the social context is critical to accurately interpreting the phenomenon of interest. The primary mode of data collection is participant observation, although other techniques such as interviews and documentary evidence may be used to corroborate the researcher’s observations. Data collection involved participant observation and formal/informal conversations with children, their parents and relatives, and health care providers to document their lived experience. It exemplifies all the charac-teristics of Qualitative Research. interpretive methodologies encompass an experience-near orientation that The participants’ lived experience is described in form of a narrative or using emergent themes. In many social science disciplines, however, scholars working in an interpretive-qualitative tradition get little guidance on this aspect of research from the positivist-centered training they receive. However, because interpretive analysis is subjective and sensitive to the experiences and insight of the embedded researcher, it is often considered less rigorous by many positivist (functionalist) researchers. It is the job of the interpretive researcher to. The previous chapter on case research discusses both techniques in depth and provides illustrative exemplars. Perspectives Hence, such research requires an immersive involvement of the researcher at the study site for an extended period of time in order to capture the entire evolution of the phenomenon of interest. The researcher followed the experiences of approximately 80 children with incurable illnesses and their families for a period of over two years. Third, interpretive analysis is holistic and contextual, rather than being reductionist and isolationist. The previous chapter on case research discusses both techniques in depth and provides illustrative exemplars. Over the last decade, there has been This method, illustrated in Figure 10.2, can be grouped into data collection and data analysis phases. First, they are well-suited for exploring hidden reasons behind complex, interrelated, or multifaceted social processes, such as inter-firm relationships or inter-office politics, where quantitative evidence may be biased, inaccurate, or otherwise difficult to obtain. Temporal nature: Interpretive research is often not concerned with searching for specific answers, but with understanding or “making sense of” a dynamic social process as it unfolds over time. The regulations and guidelines that structure the ethical review of research in North America—theBelmont Report 7 and the Common Rule8 in the United States and theTri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS)9 in Canada—provide direction for researchers and for the entities charged with oversight of research performed in academic institutions. The previous chapter on case research discusses both techniques in depth and provide… 7 . The evaluation stage examines the extent to which the initiated action is successful in resolving the original problem, i.e., whether theorized effects are indeed realized in practice. In the Shadow of Illness: Parents and Siblings of the Chronically Ill Child . Transferability in interpretive research refers to the extent to which the findings can be generalized to other settings. Although there is some overlap between qualitative and interpretive research practices (notably, in their use of word-based data), interpretive research is distinctive in its approach to research design, concept formation, data analysis, and standards of assessment (Bevir and Kedar 2008, Yanow and Schwartz-Shea, 2006; see also Klotz and Lynch 2007, Prasad 2005). Second, the role of the researcher receives critical attention in interpretive research. Interpretive research methodologies and methods are not new but This differs from most other data collection and research methods because it shifts the focus away … 260 S CENTRAL CAMPUS DR RM 214 | SALT LAKE CITY, UT 84112 | (801) 581-8620, INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS. In many social science disciplines, however, scholars working in an interpretive-qualitative tradition get little guidance on this aspect of research from the positivist-centered training they receive. Such iterations between the understanding/meaning of a phenomenon and observations must continue until “theoretical saturation” is reached, whereby any additional iteration does not yield any more insight into the phenomenon of interest. neurship research. In this method, the researcher has two roles: rely on her unique knowledge and engagement to generate insights (theory), and convince the scientific community of the trans-situational nature of the studied phenomenon. This concept is similar to that of reliability in positivist research, with agreement between two independent researchers being similar to the notion of inter-rater reliability, and agreement between two observations of the same phenomenon by the same researcher akin to test -retest reliability. At the same time, interpretive research also has its own set of challenges. While positivist research employs a “reductionist” approach by simplifying social reality into parsimonious theories and laws, interpretive research attempts to interpret social reality through the subjective viewpoints of the embedded participants within the context where the reality is situated. Researcher as instrument: Researchers are often embedded within the social context that they are studying, and are considered part of the data collection instrument in that they must use their observational skills, their trust with the participants, and their ability to extract the correct information. The second level is to understand the meaning of the participants’ experiences in order to provide a “thick description” or a rich narrative story of the phenomenon of interest that can communicate why participants acted the way they did. Use of expressive language: Documenting the verbal and non-verbal language of participants and the analysis of such language are integral components of interpretive analysis. Data is collected in interpretive research using a variety of techniques. Qualitative research relies mostly on non-numeric data, such as interviews and observations, in contrast to quantitative research which employs numeric data such as scores and metrics. interpretive research practices (notably, in their use of word-based The classic example of ethnographic research is Jane Goodall’s study of primate behaviors, where she lived with chimpanzees in their natural habitat at Gombe National Park in Tanzania, observed their behaviors, interacted with them, and shared their lives. Sharpe. appropriate assessment have recently been developed in ways that can As discussed in the previous chapter, case research is an intensive longitudinal study of a phenomenon at one or more research sites for the purpose of deriving detailed, contextualized inferences and understanding the dynamic process underlying a phenomenon of interest. Interpretive description is a qualitative research methodology aligned with a constructivist and naturalistic orientation to inquiry. For example, Eisenhardt (1989), in her interpretive study of decision making n high-velocity firms (discussed in the previous chapter on case research), collected numeric data on how long it took each firm to make certain strategic decisions (which ranged from 1.5 months to 18 months), how many decision alternatives were considered for each decision, and surveyed her respondents to capture their perceptions of organizational conflict. methodologies and methods have also been drawing greater attention. 2008. The aim of interpretive description, a relatively new qualitative methodology, is to generate knowledge relevant for … Interpretive research can be viewed as dependable or authentic if two researchers assessing the same phenomenon using the same set of evidence independently arrive at the same conclusions or the same researcher observing the same or a similar phenomenon at different times arrives at similar conclusions. Interpretive methodologies position the meaning-making practices Inadequate trust between participants and researcher may hinder full and honest self-representation by participants, and such trust building takes time. Rigor in interpretive research is viewed in terms of systematic and transparent approaches for data collection and analysis rather than statistical benchmarks for construct validity or significance testing. In interpretivism, researchers acknowledge that they, along with their research participants, co-construct findings that are socially situated but may be transferable to similar contexts. Such numeric data helped her clearly distinguish the high-speed decision making firms from the low-speed decision makers, without relying on respondents’ subjective perceptions, which then allowed her to examine the number of decision alternatives considered by and the extent of conflict in high-speed versus low-speed firms. Hermeneutic circle: Interpretive interpretation is an iterative process of moving back and forth from pieces of observations (text) to the entirety of the social phenomenon (context) to reconcile their apparent discord and to construct a theory that is consistent with the diverse subjective viewpoints and experiences of the embedded participants. Whereas the philosophical grounding of interpretive research has long Did they feel that their experience was pressured, slow, or discontinuous (“felt-time”)? Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (also known as IPA) is a qualitative research design which aims to provide a thorough examination of lived experience. Ethnography . Joint use of qualitative and quantitative data, often called “mixed-mode designs”, may lead to unique insights and are highly prized in the scientific community. The Goal of an Interpretivist Approach to Research With interpretivist research, the goal is to develop an understanding of the subjects and the topic. The most popular of these method is the participatory action research, designed by Susman and Evered (1978) [13] . Interpretation must occur at two levels. 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