What is Interpretivism?:

• The methodological approach is based on understanding the interpretations and meanings people give to actions

• Interpretivists focus on trying to gain an insight into the experiences of individuals and groups

• Researchers need to develop empathy with their subjects- Verstehen

Key ideas of interpretivism:

• Society is constructed of individuals who have free will

• Looks at individual meanings- micro sociology

• Looks to obtain qualitative data and is more subjective

• Individuals are unique in their interpretations of events and cannot be studied scientifically

Interpretive methods:

• Observations

  • Participant

  • Non-participant

• Secondary sources

  • Personal documents, historical documents, journals, diaries, media reports

• Surveys

  • Open questionnaires

  • Unstructured interviews

Strengths of interpretivism:

• Higher in validity than positivist methods as they uncover meanings and motivations of people’s actions

• Produce qualitative data which reveals hidden meanings

• Championing the ‘underdog’ in society, giving a voice to those unheard

• Gains an insight into hard-to-reach groups

Limitations of interpretivist methods:

• Difficult to replicate methods: loses reliability

• Can be overly influenced by the researcher’s interpretations of actions: lacks objectivity

• The small-scale nature of methods means unable to generalise to the wider population

• Seen as unscientific: difficult to falsify the conclusions of research

Examples of interpretivist research:

• Willis- Learning to Labour

  • Interpretivist methodology to investigate working-class boys’ experiences of school

• Jock Young:

  • Research into marijuana users in Notting Hill

• Pupil and Teacher interactions:

  • Fuller, Mac an Ghail, Archer and others used the interpretivist method