chapter_14_-_hermeneutics.ppt

7/18/2019 Chapter_14_-_Hermeneutics.ppt

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Sage Publications Limited 2008 Michael D. MyersAll Rights Reserved

HERMENEUTICS

Chapter 14


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Introduction

There are many differentways to analyse qualitativedata

Hermeneutics is oneapproach to analysing and

interpreting qualitative data

Hermeneutics

WrittenRecord

Data AnalysisApproach

Data CollectionTechnique

Research Method

PhilosophicalAssumptions

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Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics focuses primarily on the meaningof

qualitative data, especially textual data

The purpose of using hermeneutics is to aid human

understanding It helps the qualitative researcher in business and

management to understand what people say and do, and

why

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Hermeneutics defined

Hermeneutics is primarily concerned with understandingand interpreting the meaningof a text or text-analogue

Interpretation, in the sense relevant to hermeneutics,

is an attempt to make clear, to make sense of an objectof study. This object must, therefore, be a text, or a

text-analogue, which in some way is confused,

incomplete, cloudy, seemingly contradictory - in one

way or another, unclear. The interpretation aims to

bring to light an underlying coherence or sense(Taylor 1976: 153)

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Hermeneutics defined (2)

A text-analogue is anything that can be treated as a text,such as an organization or a culture

The hermeneutic task consists in understanding what aparticular text means

Hermeneutics helps a researcher to produce a story that is

believable

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1. Historicity

Historicity refers to the thesis that who we areis throughand through historical

Who we are is a function of the historical circumstancesand community that we find ourselves in, the language wespeak, the historically evolving habits and practice weappropriate, the temporally conditioned choices we make

Hermeneutics defends the ontological claim that humanbeings aretheir history (Wachterhauser, 1986: 7)

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2. The hermeneutic circle

The hermeneutic circle refers to the dialectic between theunderstanding of the text as a whole and the interpretationof its parts, in which descriptions are guided by anticipatedexplanations (Gadamer 1976a: 117)

The hermeneutic circle suggests that we understand acomplex whole from preconceptions about the meanings ofits parts

Human understanding is achieved by iterating between theparts and the whole which they form

The goal of interpretation is to produce a reading of thetext that fits all important details into a consistent, coherentmessage, one that fits coherently into the context . . .(Diesing, 1991: 110)
http://c/Documents%20and%20Settings/gofton-salmond/My%20Webs/isworld/interp.htmhttp://c/Documents%20and%20Settings/gofton-salmond/My%20Webs/isworld/interp.htm


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3. Prejudice Hermeneutics suggests that prejudice, pre-judgement or

prior knowledge plays an important part in our

understanding Our attempt to understand a text always involves some

prior knowledge or expectation of what the text is about. Infact we cannot understand a text unless we have someunderstanding of the language

Hermeneutics suggests that understanding always

involves interpretation; interpretation means using one'sown preconceptions so that the meaning of the object canbecome clear to us (Gadamer, 1975: 358)

The critical task of hermeneutics then becomes one ofdistinguishing between true prejudices, by which weunderstand, from the false ones by which we

misunderstand (Gadamer, 1976b: 124)

As researchers we need to become aware of how our ownviews, biases, culture and personal history have asignificant impact on how we view the world

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4. Autonomization

Ricoeur (1981) makes an important distinction betweenverbal speech and written text

He says that the author's meaning, once it is inscribed in atext, takes on a life of its own. This process ofautonomization takes place whenever speech is inscribedin a text

This means that the text now has an autonomous,objective existence independent of the author. Oncesomething is published or in the public domain, it isvirtually impossible to take it back

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5. Distanciation

Distanciation refers to the inevitable distance that occurs intime and space between the text and its original author onthe one hand, and the readers of the text (the audience) onthe other

Since the text takes on a life of its own, it becomesdissociated from the original author, the originally intended

audience, and even its original meaning

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6. Appropriation and 7. Engagement

Ricoeur suggests that the hermeneutic task is to makeAristotle's writings our own. The text is the mediumthrough which we understand ourselves (Ricoeur, 1991:87)

Gadamer suggests that meaning does not reside in thesubjective feelings of the interpreter nor in the intentionsof the author. Rather, meaning emerges from theengagement of reader and text

This process of critical engagement with the text is crucial

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Types of hermeneutics

Pure hermeneutics stresses empathic understanding fromthe inside it sees the text or object as out there ready

to be investigated

Post-modern hermeneutics says there is no such a thing as

an objective or true meaning of a text. Facts are what a

cultural, conversational community agrees they are(Madison, 1990: 191)

Crit ical hermeneutics takes a middle positionthe

interpreter has the important task of judging between

alternative explanations

Depth hermeneutics assumes that the surface meaning of

the text hides, but also expresses, a deeper meaning

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Using hermeneutics

In qualitative research studies about business andmanagement, the text is what people say and do

Interviews, documents and your own field notes record theviews of the actors and describe certain events, etc.

This material needs to be ordered, explained andinterpreted in order to make sense of the situation

The ordering is done according to the researcherstheoretical position and by comparing one text withanother

The researchers understanding of the whole has to becontinually revised in view of the reinterpretation of the

parts

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Critique of hermeneutics

The main advantage of using hermeneutics is that itenables a much deeper understanding of people in

business settings

Hermeneutics is well-grounded in philosophy and the

social sciences more generally and hence is relatively easy

to justify

One disadvantage of hermeneutics is that it focuses the

researcher almost entirely on text rather than lived

experience

Another potential disadvantage of hermeneutics is that itcan be difficult to know when to conclude a study: when

does the interpretive process stop?

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