interpretive research

Categories: Site glossary

studies that involve the researcher making sense of research participants' responses in relation to the research purposes

of course all research involves interpretation, but the term usually means a researcher is working with open-ended data without pre-conceived categories and criteria for coding it

This is a paradigmatic stance, often contrasted with positivist research

 Read about interpretivist research

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Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.