Interpretivist research

Research in one of the major traditions, or paradigms, of research is often referred to as interpretivist. This is absaed upon:

“the belief that all knowledge claims are interpretations, and that there is nothing to appeal to in judging an interpretation but other interpretations”. However, the interpretivist view is that such data “cannot provide any special basis or foundation for knowledge claims that is somehow free of interpretation" (Schwandt, 2001: 68-69).”

Schwandt, T. A. (2001). Dictionary of Qualitative Inquiry (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.

“Research is positivistic if it assumes it is possible to produce definitive knowledge that is objective (i.e., it can be agreed on by all informed observers); whereas interpretivist research assumes that the research relies upon the (inevitably somewhat subjective) interpretation of a particular human being who will necessarily bring his or her own idiosyncratic experiences and understanding to the interpretations made” (Taber, 2013: 45)

Not all researchers are happy with the notion of there being ‘a’ truth that researchers are meant to discover: “We do not believe that there is such a thing as objective (absolute and unconditional) truth, … We do believe that there are truths but think that the idea of truth need not be tied to the objectivist view. …truth is always relative to a conceptual system that is defined in large part by metaphor.” Lakoff & Johnston, 1980: 159.

Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

“The main problem with the paper is that the earlier phases of the research involve interpretive (qualitative) or 'exploratory' stages, and yet there is far too little presentation and analysis of data offered in reporting these phases.”

Critical comment from a peer review report of an article submitted for publication

Taber, K. S. (2013). Classroom-based Research and Evidence-based Practice: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.

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