Interpretivism+-++Andy+Moss

Return to Intepretivism Home Page

Interpretivism examples:

(1) Photograph: This photograph illustrates some important aspects of interpretivism. What is it and what's happening? We can't know for sure. According to Hatch and Yanow, there are three "basic methods of data access used in interpretive analysis: observing,.., conversational (or 'in-depth') interviewing, and the close reading of documents." (p. 68) So, observing this scene is one way to find out its meaning. What can we observe? There is a clock(?) in the middle, there are some cars, and vans on what appears to be a street [but I digress!], there are some buildings or various shapes, there are several tree-like structures (I can see five), there appears to be a wall and a fence, and there are two people having a conversation in the center left mid-foreground. Also, I, as the observer, bring my own experiences which influence how I view this scene. For example, I conclude that there is a street where the cars, and vans are,and that the structure on the right is a subway station. The second way to discover the meaning would be to talk to the people we see here and find out how they understand this place and its objects. There is no obvious way we can see to read any documents about this scene. Therefore, we don't know for sure what this scene is, or its meaning, but on the basis of my own past experience, I conclude we are looking at a street around a subway station in a city with an unusual clock tower. To verify whether this understanding is "true" (but not in the positivist sense of certainty), or to add more information to our understanding, we would need to talk to the people involved in this scene.

(2) picture of two girls:

Here is an image. How can we interpret it from an interpretivist perspective? This photograph shows two girls (how do we know they are girls?) at a table writing. According to interpretivism, we can observe, interview, or closely read documents about this situation. As an observer, I can see that the two girls are both writing on the same table. They both seem to be intent on hwat they are doing, and there are two more papers visible behind them on another table. Therefore, I conclude based on my own particular experiences in schools, that these two girls are in a school performing some school task. In order to go further, I would need to interview the girls to find out more about the situation. Finally, I could closely look at documents. In this case, the girls seem to be creating documents. Perhaps I could look at them to find out more information. The meaning o fthis situation will be defined by the meanings coming from the people involved. The primary people in this situation would be the two girls, but given that I am an observer, the particularities of my own "blinders" also enter into the interpretation of meaning.

(3) M.C. Escher "Relativity": Escher is famous for this print which shows differing perspectives on the same picture, with some elementts being interpreted differently, depending on which other parts your are comparing to. For example,t here is a person seated on a bench slightly to the left and above the center of the print. Depending on what we look at, this persons appears totally out of context for us (sitting comfortably on a bench that is mounted on vertical wall?), or perfoectly normal if we consider the surface the bench is resting on to be the floor and the stairway behind the figure to be rising to the next level. I chose this print because it shows that there are different perspectives by different people (as in the print) that have to be consulted to arrive at a meaning or understanding of an organization. Another way to look at interpretivism is to look at artifacts, so we could also view Escher's print as an artifact that is to be viewed to understand his sense of meaning. In this case, we would probobly view many more Escher prints and also consult him for his description of meaning to arrive at a meaning mediated through our own perspective. This would fit the approach of the hermeneutic philosophers.