Interpretive Research Designs

1. Interpretive Research Designs Ali Djamhuri

2. Philosophical Questions Distinguishing Paradigms and the Issue of Subjective-objective Dimension Realism Nominalism Ontology Positivism Anti-positivism Epistemology Determinism Voluntarism Human Nature Nomothetic Ideographic Methodology Source: Burrell & Morgan, 1979, 3)

3. Ontology Nominalism Realism Social world external to individual cognition is a real world made up of hard, tangible, and relatively immutable structure. They still exist as empirical entities The social world exists independently of an individual’s appreciation of it. Reality is out there and is not man made creation, but as given (as is) • Social world external to individual cognition is nothing more than names, concepts and labels that are used to structure reality • The concepts, names, and labels are artificial creations and their utility based on convenience as tool for describing, making sense, and negotiating external world

4. Epistemology Anti-positivism Positivism Understanding of social world can be performed by observer social science orientation is to explain, predict, and to control performed by identifying regularities and causal relationship Positivistic social science emphasizes objectivy such as by avoiding bias and the use of personal language • Social world is relativistic and can be understood only by the point of view of the individuals who are directly involved in the activities which are to be studied • Social science is basically subjective • Anti-positivist reject objectivity in social science

5. Human Nature Voluntarism Determinism Humankind and their activities are being completely determined by the situation or environment where they are located Most human activities are externally driven by stimulus.Human activities are just responses to stimulus Human activities are predictable or even programmable • Humankind and their activities are completely authonomous and having free will • Most human activities are internally driven by human free will or by meanings owned about their activities • Human activities are not predictable, but stillunderstandable

6. Methodology (Axiology) Ideographic Nomothetic Empasizing on the importance of rigid, systematic protocols (procedures, techniques) Scientific rigor is placed upon its rigidity of procedures (quantification, testing and others) Hypothesis testing model dominates inquiries • Closeness to the social world is the key to understand it. • Social theory is subjective accounts generated from insider’s interpretation • Emphasizing process, interactions and the importance of natural setting • Narrative and story telling is viewed as effective tool to report or transmit such accounts

7. Four Paradigms for the Analysis of Social Theory(Burrell & Morgan, 1979,22) The Sociology of Radical Change Radical Humanist Radical Structuralist Objective Subjective Interptretive Functionalist The Sociology of Regulation

8. Continuity Implications in Burrell and Morgan’s Model of Paradigm Categorization • The number of paradigms is extremely limitless • It is possible to create new sociological paradigm • Even within a certain paradigm, there are various reserach approaches distinguihed based on their magnitude of subjectivity-objectivity polarity or change-stability polarity

9. Interpretive Paradigm The Sociology of Radical Change Radical Humanist Radical Structuralist Objective Subjective Interptretive Functionalist The Sociology of Regulation

10. Interpretive (Anti-Positive Paradigm) • Grounded Theory • Hermeneutics • Ethnography • Transcendental Phenomenology • Existential Phenomenology • Ethnomethodology • Phenomenology Symbolic Interactionism

11. Existential Phenomenology(Heidegger,Schutz) • Instead of concern to transcendental consciousness (see transcendental phenomenology), existential phenomenology go to “life-world” (more on surface and more sociological) • Getting the meaning of human actions or phenomena through epocheor bracketting, that is examining phenomena as they are originally given to consciousness(Husserl)

12. Transcendental Phenomenology(Husserlian or Everyday Life Phenomenology) • Science is characterized by intentionality ...fully subjective • Phenomenology is created to build “strong objective foundation” of science • Orientating to answer the central question of meaning by going out from facts to the phenomenon (structure of experience) by bracketting the facts

13. Phenomenology Symbolic Interactionism • Human actions are based on their own meaning • Reality (meaning) is costructed through human (social) interaction, a negotiated result among competing themes, definitions or interpretations • Reality (meaning) is changing • Less subjective in viewing the social world (reality) compared to ethnomethodology

14. Hermeneutics (Dilthey) • Ontologically adopting objective-idealist view • Hermeneutics is essentially a methodology for studying the objectification of mind • The reality should be studied as text and in detail to reveal their essential meaning and significance • Social world should be studied in their total context, they may have different meaning in the other context

15. Ethnomethodology(Garfinkel) • Studying social daily life in detail, specifically praactical activities,practical circumstances and practical sociological reasoning • Specific attention is usually given to extra ordinary event of an ordered situation to understand how the insiders of the culture interpret and treat such extra ordinary • The purpose is to provide adequate accounts, adequate descriptions, and adequate evidence about daily life that may contain awesome indexicalities

16. Tips • Find the language (terms, principle, key concepts ) of any design chosen • Suit it with subject matter researched • Be consistent in teh design chosen by following relevant methodological steps in the design • Report the work in the language of the chosen design