INTERPRETIVE PARADIGM IN RESEARCH: CHARACTERISTICS, AUTHORS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

The interpretive paradigm in research is a way of understanding scientific knowledge and reality. It is a research model that is based on a deep understanding of reality and the causes that have led it to be the case, instead of simply remaining in general and casual explanations.

This scientific model is part of qualitative research, which seeks to study a topic in depth to fully understand it. For this reason, it is typical of the human and social sciences, contrary to the quantitative paradigm that can be found more often in the pure sciences.

The interpretive paradigm in research seeks to learn more about different cultures, studying their customs, religious beliefs, ways of behaving, politics and economics. It also tries to understand individuals in the same way.

However, instead of trying to study individuals and cultures from the outside, researchers who follow the interpretive paradigm try to do so by putting themselves in the shoes of the entities they observe.

Characteristics of the interpretive paradigm

The interpretive paradigm focuses on the way in which knowledge about individuals and cultures is generated.

For the proponents of this research model, knowledge arises from the interaction between the researcher and the object of study. Both are inseparable, because the mere fact of making an observation already changes the result of it.

- For scientists who follow the interpretive paradigm, any investigation is influenced by the values ​​and points of view of the person conducting it. This paradigm, therefore, is more typical of the sciences that study the human being, such as psychology, anthropology or sociology.

- It does not seek to find general explanations for phenomena based on concrete cases, as other currents of quantitative research do. On the contrary, the main objective is to understand in depth the object of study, mainly through observation.

- The proponents of this research model consider reality as something changing and dynamic, so they would be within the phenomenological currents. They go against the assumptions of positivism, which sets out to understand reality and then formulate predictions. The interpretive paradigm only wants to discover reality.

- The main research methods of the interpretive paradigm are observation and interview; each one will be used more or less depending on the specific object of study. Due to this, a greater emphasis is placed on practice than on theory, and from this paradigm, large theoretical bodies are not usually formulated to explain reality.

- Regarding the relationship between the researcher and the object of study, both collaborate and communicate to achieve the best possible version of knowledge. This is very different from what happens in quantitative research, in which the relationship between the researcher and the research subject does not influence the final result of the research.

Important authors

Although there are many researchers who follow the interpretive research paradigm, some of the most important authors on this topic are Martin Heidegger, Herbert Blumer, and Edmund Husserl.

Martin Heidegger

Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher born in the late 19th century. Although his first interest was Catholic theology, he later created his own philosophy, which had a great influence in different fields such as ecology, psychoanalysis, cultural anthropology and art. Today he is considered one of the most influential modern philosophers.

This author considered that it was essential to study the interpretations and meanings that people give to reality when they interact with it; thus, it had a constructionist approach. Based in part on the ideas of symbolic interactionism, Heidegger thought that in order to acquire knowledge it is necessary to understand the subjective reality of each one.

Herbert Blumer

Blumer was an American philosopher and researcher born in the early 20th century. Influenced by the works of George Herbert Mead, he was one of the fathers of symbolic interactionism, a current that studies how our own interpretations of the world influence the way we experience it.

For Blumer, scientific research has to be based on the subjective points of view of researchers; According to him, only by uniting their interpretations can true knowledge be achieved.

Edmund husserl

Edmund Husserl was a philosopher born in Moravia in 1859. He was one of the founders of the phenomenological movement, which has influenced the way of thinking of a large number of modern thinkers and scientists.

His theory is based on the idea that the reality we experience is mediated by the way we interpret it. Therefore, her main interests were the meanings that we give to things, the consciousness and the understanding of the mental phenomena of human beings.

Examples

The interpretive paradigm focuses on studying mainly social phenomena, or those that have been caused by human beings. Therefore, it is a type of research that is used a lot in sociology, psychology and anthropology.

Some of the most studied topics through the interpretive paradigm are the following:

- Social movements and revolutions, as well as the way in which they occur and what has to happen for one of these to emerge.

- The characteristics of indigenous cultures; that is, those people who have not been in contact with Western civilization and who, therefore, retain their traditional ways of living.

- The cultural customs of developed countries, how they have been produced and how they have changed in recent times. Some of these customs could be marriage, the most common forms of work, or the family and social relationships of people.

- Study of minority groups, such as homosexuals, people with disabilities or people of color, and what differences and difficulties they encounter in their daily lives.

References

1. "Interpretive Paradigm" in: Calameo. Retrieved on: March 17, 2018 from Calameo: es.calameo.com.
2. "Interpretive Paradigm" in: More types of. Retrieved on: March 17, 2018 from More types of: mastiposde.com.
3. "Qualitative Research" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: March 17, 2018 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.
4. "Qualitative Research" in: Atlas.ti. Retrieved on: March 17, 2018 from Atlas.ti: atlasti.com.
5. "Phenomenology (psychology)" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: March 17, 2018 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.