Hermeneutic as a Research Method
1. Hermeneutic as a Research MethodHow to do research using Hermeneutic approachDr. Felice AddeoDepartment of Political, Social and Communication ScienceUniversity of Salerno – Italymail: faddeo@unisa.it; feliceaddeo@libero.it
2. - Hermeneutic as a Research Method- Epistemological foundations- The Roles of Researcher Interviewer and Interviewee- How to conduct a research with Hermeneutic Approach- How to conduct and analyze an Interview- How to interpret Interview transcripts- Criticism to Hermeneutic ApproachContents
3. Hermeneutics and Social ScienceSocial science could be considered as a double hermeneutic‘ process:“a mutual interpretative interplay between social science and those whose activitiescompose its subject matter” (Giddens, 1984)“all social actors, it can properly be said, are social theorists, who alter their theories in thelight of experience’ (Giddens, 1984) - part of which experience is social theory.“The social sciences deal with a pre-interpreted world; they stand in a subject–subjectrelation to their “field of study.” Their field of study is the pre-interpreted world of thesocial actors. The social actors uphold and develop the symbolic social world; the socialactors’ symbolic world enters into the construction and production of that world. In thissense the construction of social theory involves a double hermeneutic. [Giddens 1993, 154;Habermas 1981, 159, 162 (1984, 107, 110)]. The social scientist must interpret a socialworld which already exhibits symbolic meaning” (in Weinert, 2009).
4. Hermeneutics and Social ScienceThomas Theorem (1928)If men define situations as real, theyare real in their consequences
5. Hermeneutic as a Research Methodmain goal of Hermeneutic approach is to explore andanalyze the lifeword of people, using qualitativemethod, and non directive interviewingtechniques to collect information(Montesperelli, 1998)
6. Qualitative MethodWilhelm DiltheyNatural Sciences (Naturwissenschaft) aim at explaining phenomena in terms of cause andeffect (erklaren).Human Sciences (Geisteswissenschaften) could not completely follow the explanation model.Psychological, social, and historical aspects are crucial in order to have a greater knowledge.That is why Human Sciences should aim more at understand and interpret (verstehen) ratherthan explain in order to study social phenomena. Both kind of Sciences are human product,however Natural sciences tend to abstract away from the life-context, while it is the primaryobject of inquiry in the human sciences.There is Empathy between Researchers/Scientists and Research Subjects as they share thesame common human nature.Wilhelm WindelbandHe distinguishes between Nomothetic and Idiographic ScienceNomothetic = to find universal laws that explain phenomena and to generalize the resultsIdiographic = to analyze contingent, unique, and often subjective phenomena, appraising theiruniqueness
7. Qualitative MethodHeinrich RickertIn his intellectual and judgmental activity, a researcher is guided by Wertbeziehungen (value-relevance).Max WeberAll social phenomena have no unique and clear explanation.Every researchers try to explain (Verursachung) a social phenomenon, they do it on the basis ofhis own values and interests.All the explanations could not be judged as absolutely true or false: they are more or lessadequate.“There is no absolutely "objective" scientific analysis of culture... All knowledge of culturalreality... is always knowledge from particular points of view. ... an "objective" analysis ofcultural events, which proceeds according to the thesis that the ideal of science is thereduction of empirical reality to "laws," is meaningless... [because]... the knowledge of sociallaws is not knowledge of social reality but is rather one of the various aids used by our mindsfor attaining this end” - Max Weber, "Objectivity" in Social Science, 1897 (ref. Wikipedia).Karl Pearson, surely not a qualitative researcher, defined the concept of causation as anunscientific and metaphysical speculation.
8. Qualitative Epistemology- Phenomenology and Constructivism could be considered as the main epistemological andphilosophical perspectives of qualitative method- Phenomenon: (tò phainòmenon) = what appear = Phenomenology focuses on subjectiveexperiences and interpretations of the world, because we can only know how things appearto us and to the others and NOT how they really are: even if there is an “essence” of thethings (objects, subjects), this essence is not accessible to human understanding.- Constructivism: reality is socially constructed, i.e. is not given by nature but it is the result ofdynamic process that is reproduced by people acting on their interpretations and theirknowledge of itconsequencesThere is no immediate relation between Knower and Known: this relation is mediated by themeaning: «There is no perception without something being perceived» (E. Husserl)Kant: meanings are not copies of reality but a mean to dominate intellectually itWeber: reality is chaotic and self-contradictory, meanings help human beings in selecting,reducing, ordering, and making sense of complexity: “all knowledge of cultural reality, as maybe seen, is always knowledge from particular points of view”there is no separation between Knower and Known as they share the same cultural horizon
9. Qualitative Method features- in-depth understanding of human behavior, actions, motivations, representations,attitudes, values, explicit and tacit knowledge- Interest in the meaning, i.e. how people make sense of their lives, experiences, and theirvisions of the reality- reduce the distance between the researcher and the subjects being studied- preference for the study of “Micro” problems- Inductive or Abductive reasoning = not follow the hypothesis-verification process, but beopen to listening, dialogue and, above all, unexpected- Hidiographic (each subject is a world apart and he is not fungible) and Holistic (each subjectis considered as a coherent whole) orientation – no strict need for statistical generalization- dependence from the social and cultural context in which the research is conducted- as there are no highly standardized and coded data collection and analysis procedures,greatest importance is attached to the skills and the competences of the researcher(s), i.e.to the researcher’s personal knowledge and to his capability of empathic understanding
10. Hermeneutics: the word “Hermeneutics” generally refers to text interpretation, especially in the fields ofReligion and Law.Schleiermacher widened the domain of Hermeneutics not only to sacred or legal texts, but to all humandocuments and modes of communication.Heidegger shifted the focus of Hermeneutics from interpretation to existential understanding (ontologybefore gnoseology) – Heidegger developed the concept of Hermeneutic Circle: It refers to the idea thatones understanding of the text as a whole is established by reference to the individual parts and onesunderstanding of each individual part by reference to the whole.Gadamer and Ricouer finally stated that hermeneutics could be applied to all human activities“Hermeneutics is the theory of the operations of understanding in their relation to the interpretation oftexts” (Ricoeur,1992)So, in Social Science, the domain of Hermeneutics has been gradually extended to the study of every actor process involving interpretation: verbal and nonverbal communication, as pre-suppositions, pre-understandings, and son on.Nowadays, relying on phenomenological and constructivist epistemologies, Hermeneutic has finallybecome a social research method.Hermeneutics
11. Hermeneutics is considered also like the “art of interpretation” – interpreting andunderstanding are not only ways of knowing, they are the ways people deal with reality‘Explanation is a necessary step for understanding. We always explain in order to betterunderstand. A text must be explained in its internal structure before being understood in itsrelation to the interest it arouses and to which it responds. It is no different for a value or agroup of values. But the opposite is just as true. If understanding passes through explanation,explanation is completed in understanding’ (Ricoeur, 1992 quoted in Schwabenland, 2006 ).As we interpret, we do not knowing the real essence of things, but their meanings.Meanings are:- not given, but develop in conversation- socially constructed- constantly being created in the interaction(Bowens, 1997)Hermeneutics
12. «Is the meaning of our experiences, and not the ontological structure of objects, thatconstitutes reality» (Schütz) - The “essence” of things is not intelligible or approachable.Meanings have an intersubjective nature: externalizing the meanings makes them objects of areality that is constructed (Berger and Luckman) – for example: “shared meanings constructedby people in their interactions with each other and used as an everyday resource to interpretthe meaning of elements of social and cultural life. If people share common sense, then theyshare a definition of the situation” (wikipedia)“Meanings may be shared by the members of small groups and communities but unclear tooutsiders. The same words can mean different things to different people; different words canmean the same things. Meaning is elusive. Even within groups meanings may be contested”(Schwabenland, 2006)Horizon of Historical and Linguistic tradition: before comprehending, the man is comprehendedinto the Historical and Linguistic Horizon.Hermeneutics
13. The most important thing is to unfold what constitutes individual comprehension. Gadamerpoints out in this context that prejudice is a (nonfixed) reflection of that unfoldingcomprehension, and is not per se without value. Being alien to a particular tradition is acondition of understanding. Gadamer points out that we can never step outside of ou