What is Interpretivism?
Interpretivism
What is Interpretivism?
Interpretativism refers to approaches emphasizing the meaningful nature of people’s
participation in social and cultural life. Researchers working within this tradition analyse the
meanings people confer upon their own and others’ actions and take the view that cultural
existence and change can be understood by studying what people think about, their ideas,
and the meanings that are important to them.
Links
What is pragmatism?
Pragmatism argues that both constructivism and objectivism are valid ways to approach
research. Pragmatism allows a researcher to view the topic from either or both points-ofview regarding the influence or role of social actors and uses these to create a practical
approach to research. This may be used to find solutions to problems.
Links
Wiki about Pragmatism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatism
Layer 2 of the Onion
Layer 2 contains the terms deductive and inductive. A decision on this level may be strongly
indicated by the decisions made at the previous level, or you may need to assess your
research aim, your limitations and personal opinions to decide which method will work best
for your work.
Please click on the terms for more information.
Deductive
What is it?
Deductive means that you start with a statement or question and your research sets out to
answer it. The aim would be to conclude with a yes or no response to the question.
Questions may be statements or informed speculation about the topic that the researcher
believes can be answered.
The thought process of deduction moves from theory to the research question, to data
collection, findings to a rejection or confirmation of the research question. This should lead
onto a revision of the theory and often starts the process over again.
Links
Please see general resources
Inductive
What is it?
Inductive means that you are researching to create theory. The process moves in the
opposite direction to the deductive approach taking its focus from the working title of the
researcher not the existing theory. This means the research goes from research question to
Wiki about Antipositivism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipositivism
