The Interpretive Paradigm

Abstract

The concept of varied understandings is at the heart of the interpretive paradigm. Interpretivists are interested in theory, relationships, data, and value, but have a different approach than social scientists. The four key questions for interpretivists are: 1) What is theory? 2) What is meaning? 3) What is data? 4) What is the place of value in the interpretive research process? The chapter provides a details on the subjective nature of the interpretive paradigm, the role of subjectivity, and how interpretive differs from social science including rationalism vs. empiricism and subjectivity vs objectivity. The chapter discusses how the interpretive paradigm developed as a response to the social science perspective in the 1800s and 1900s. During this time period hermeneutics, phenomenology, and symbolic interactionism emerged as the three main approaches in the interpretive paradigm. Hermeneutics began as the study of religious texts and grew into the study of “texts” with a much broader definition including visual and bodies in action. Phenomenology explores the study of meanings assigned to experiences to understand the reasons we interact the way we do. Finally, symbolic interactionism explores the relationship between symbols, society, and human interaction.