Interpretive Research

Abstract

This chapter examines the philosophical standpoints of interpretive research contrasted with positivist approaches. The interpretive approach, also known as constructionist philosophy, emerged among other qualitative methodologies as a challenge to positivists' empiricist approaches to conducting research. The interpretive researchers advance a view that all data needs interpretation and that the researcher assesses and interprets data to establish meanings and understanding. Whereas a positivist researcher would normally seek to control the subjects, the research environment and the related variables, in the interpretive paradigm, the participants are not treated as subjects by the researcher, but as helpers in the construction of meanings under a more equal relationship.