THE MEANINGS OF METHODOLOGYINTERPRETIVE SOCIAL SCIENCE
We can trace interpretive social science (ISS)
to the German sociologist Max Weber (1864–
1920) and German philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey
(1833–1911). In his major work,Einleitung in die
Geisteswissenshaften (Introduction to the Human
Sciences)(1883), Dilthey argued that there were
two fundamentally different types of science:
Naturwissenschaftand Geisteswissenschaft.The
former rests on Erklärung,or abstract explanation.
The latter is rooted in an empathetic understanding,
or verstehen, of the everyday lived experience of
people in specific historical settings. Weber argued
that social science should study social action with a
purpose. He embraced verstehenand felt that we
must learn the personal reasons or motives that
shape a person’s internal feelings and guide deci-
sions to act in particular ways.
We shall speak of “social action” wherever human
action is subjectively related in meaning to the be-
havior of others. An unintended collision of two
cyclists, for example, shall not be called social ac-
tion. But we will define as such their possible prior
attempts to dodge one another.... Social action is
not the only kind of action significant for sociolog-
ical causal explanation, but it is the primary object
of an “interpretive sociology.” (Weber, 1981:159)Interpretive social science is related to
hermeneutics, a theory of meaning that originated
in the nineteenth century. The term comes from a
god in Greek mythology, Hermes, who had the job
of communicating the desires of the gods to mor-
tals. It “literally means making the obscure plain”
(Blaikie, 1993:28). The humanities (philosophy, art
history, religious studies, linguistics, and literary
criticism) use hermeneutics. It emphasizes conduct-
ing a very close, detailed reading of textto acquire a
profound, deep understanding. Tex tcan mean a con-
versation, written words, or pictures. We conduct “a
reading” to discover deeper, richer meanings that
are embedded within the text. Each reader brings
her or his subjective experience to the text. When
studying the text, the researcher/reader tries to ab-
sorb or get inside the viewpoint the text presents as
a whole and then to develop an understanding of
how each of the parts relates to the whole. In other
words, true meaning is rarely obvious on the sur-
face. We can reach it only through a detailed exam-
ination and study of the text, by contemplating its
many messages, and seeking the connections
among its parts.^12
Interpretive social science (ISS) has several
varieties: hermeneutics, constructionism, ethno-
methodology, cognitive, idealist, phenomeno-
logical, subjectivist, and qualitative sociology.^13 An
interpretive approach is associated with the sym-
bolic interactionist Chicago school in sociology
of the 1920s–1930s. Often people just call ISS
qualitative research because most interpretive
researchers use participant observation and field
research. These techniques require researchers to
devote many hours in direct personal contact with
the people they study. Other ISS researchers ana-
lyze transcripts of conversations or study video-
tapes of behavior in extraordinary detail, looking
for subtle nonverbal communication to understand
the details of interactions in their context. The pos-
itivist researcher may precisely measure selected
quantitative details about thousands of people and
use statistics whereas an interpretive researcher
may live for a year with a dozen people to gather
mountains of highly detailed qualitative data so that
he or she can acquire an in-depth understanding of
how the people create meaning in their everyday
lives.
Interpretive social science concerns how
people interact and get along with each other. In
general, the interpretive approach is the systematicInterpretative social science (ISS) One of three
major approaches to social research that emphasizes
meaningful social action, socially constructed meaning,
and value relativism.
Verstehen A word from German that means em-
pathetic understanding (i.e., a deep understanding with
shared meaning) and that is a primary goal for social
research according to interpretative social science.
Hermeneutics A method associated with interpre-
tative social science that originates in religious and lit-
erary studies of textual material in which in-depth
inquiry into text and relating its parts to the whole can
reveal deeper meanings.