Handbook of Interpretive Research Methods in the Social Sciences

Edited by Margarethe Kusenbach, Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, University of South Florida, USA and Michaela Pfadenhauer, Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Vienna, Austria

‘This Handbook displays the variety of interpretive methods across many countries and disciplines. Its strengths include the recruitment of authors who do not usually publish in English, and the display of women's contributions to the canon. Readers will find ideas and experts new to them, who share their passion for resisting the 'encroachment of positivist thinking.’

• Contents1 Interpretive encounters: an introduction to the handbook 1Margarethe Kusenbach and Michaela PfadenhauerPART I CONTEXTS2 Hidden figures? The role of women in early interpretive research in theUnited States and the German Empire 21Ursula Offenberger and Marion Keller3 Symbolic interactionism as resistance to positivism: an interpretive theoryof understanding meaning and meaning-making 36Foroogh Mohammadi and Lisa-Jo K. van den ScottPART II FIELDS4 The purpose and place of interpretive approaches in education research 54Sofia Marques da Silva5 Looking (back) to the future of interpretive criminology 72Julien Grayer andStacey Hannem6 Taking stock of interpretive scholarship in evidence-based public health 89Lisa M. PfadenhauerandMichaela Coenen7 Interpreting disability: epistemological insights and methodologicalstrategies 107Jacqueline Low8 How real are social constructions? Interpretive scholarship in disasterstudies 123Margarethe Kusenbach and Gabriela Christmann9 Understanding interpretive research in communication 137Jillian A. Tullis10 Interpretation as intervention in science and technology studies: revisitingmethods as epistemic practices 152Fredy Mora-Gámez, Andrea Schikowitz, and Sarah R. Davies11 Women’s, gender, and feminist studies in transnational perspective: whatwe can and cannot learn when using an interpretive lens 165Olga Plakhotnik12 What can interpretive research methods do for trans studies? Connectingsubjectivity and materiality 181Hayden J. Fulton and S.L. CrawleyPART III METHODS13 Interpreting and theorizing research interviews 198Kathryn Roulston and Melissa Freeman14 Sociological biographical research in the interpretive tradition 210Miriam Schäfer and Johannes Becker15 Cultural narrative analysis as an interpretive research method 225Donileen R. Loseke and Carley Geiss16 Hermeneutics as a method of interpretation: line by line to thereconstruction of meaning 241Cornelia Reiter and Karin Sardadvar17 How interpretive is grounded theory? 258Elisabeth Scheibelhofer18 Phenomenology as inspiration in interpretive ethnographic research 271Margarethe Kusenbach and Dirk vom Lehn19 Interpretive research with vignettes: an innovative method for situationalanalysis 288Katharina Miko-Schefzig20 Artifact analysis as an interpretive method 307Ulrike Froschauer and Manfred Lueger21 From qualitative visual analysis to social science films 322Katharina Miko-Schefzig and Dennis Jancsary22 Whose interpretations matter? Participatory research approaches 342Hella von Unger23 Autoethnography as an interpretive method: reconnecting selves andsociety 358Carol Rambo and Brittany Presson24 Feeling knowing: the nature and purpose of arts-based research methods 374Sophie TamasPART IV ISSUES25 The influence of new media technologies on contemporary interpretiveresearch 388Julie B. Wiest, Laura Robinson, and Katia Moles26 Interpretive research methods and the issue of intersubjectivity ininteractionism and affect theory 406Natalia Ruiz-Junco and Javiera Garcia-Meneses27 Interpretive research from a multispecies perspective 422Leslie Irvine28 What makes a great ethnography? Writing and the issue of quality ininterpretive research 436Michaela Pfadenhauer and Paul Eisewicht29 Doing it right? Interpretive research in an era of research ethics review 454Deborah K. van den HoonaardPART V EXEMPLARS30 Dorothy Smith: making the ontological shift 469Órla Meadhbh Murray31 Reconstructive social research in the interpretive tradition: an interviewwith Monika Wohlrab-Sahr 485Monika Wohlrab-Sahr, Michaela Pfadenhauer, andSilke Steets32 Reflections on urban ethnography: an interview with Elijah Anderson 498Elijah Anderson, Patrice D. Collins, Vida Bajc, and Margarethe Kusenbach33 Interpreting society from a spatial perspective: Martina Löw’sgroundbreaking sociology of space 509Séverine Marguin and Vivien Sommer34 Interpretation, emotions, and intersectionality: exploring and extendingArlie Hochschild’s legacy 524Anna Durnová and Julia Schmid35 From the interpretation of culture to the culture of interpretation: Hans-Georg Soeffner’s art of sociological hermeneutics 535Thea D. Boldt36 Living autoethnography with Carolyn Ellis: honoring care and compassionin the academy 548Carolyn Ellis, S. L. Crawley, and Margarethe Kusenbach