interpretivism

Interpretivism is a philosophical and methodological stance in the social sciences that prioritizes the interpretation of human meanings and actions. It holds that social reality is not simply discoverable through objective measurement but is produced through human interpretation, language, and culture. Researchers adopting interpretivism seek to understand how people construct meanings in specific contexts, usually by analyzing participants' perspectives rather than testing universal laws. The approach emerged in response to positivist accounts of social life and is associated with the work of Wilhelm Dilthey, who argued for verstehen or empathetic understanding of lived experience, and with Max Weber's emphasis on interpretive sociology. Later developments in hermeneutics—led by Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur—and in anthropology, notably Clifford Geertz's thick description, further shaped interpretivist methods and aims.

Core concepts include: meaning as context-bound, the importance of language and symbols, the researcher’s reflexivity, and the idea that multiple interpretations can be valid. Interpretivists typically favor qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews, participant observation, case studies, and discourse analysis, and they emphasize rich, contextualized descriptions over statistical generalization. Data analysis tends toward thematic, narrative, or hermeneutic interpretation.

Interpretivism contrasts with positivist approaches that seek objective laws and generalizable findings. Critics argue that interpretivism risks subjectivity and limited generalizability, though proponents defend rigor through transparency, triangulation, and thick description. In practice, interpretivism often informs qualitative research across sociology, anthropology, education, and related fields, and is frequently used in mixed-methods designs to complement quantitative findings.