Interpretation and Method

Dvora Yanow, Peregrine Schwartz-Shea

"[An] invaluable resource for anyone interested in these important debates over method and methodology, interpretive methodologies or interpretive/qualitative methods... should be commended for its diversity, depth and incredible scope."Political Studies ReviewPraise for the first edition editionThis is only a ‘‘methods’’ book in the sense that Moby Dick is a book about how to catch whales. Underneath Herman Melville’s descriptions of the proper way to throw a harpoon (data gathering) or how to cut up blubber (data analysis) is a deep meditation. So too with Interpretation and Method, an assemblage of reflections on the interpretive approach to social science. As one who regularly teaches a required doctoral seminar in the logic of inquiry, I can attest to the need for this book—if one is prepared to entertain the idea that there is more than one logic.Camilla Stivers, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

• Acknowledgments, Wherefore “Interpretive?”, I. Meaning and Methodology, II. Generating Data, III. Analyzing Data, IV. Re-Recognizing the Human Sciences Through Interpretive Methodologies, References, About the Editors and Contributors, Index