Interpretivism is a research method that is used to study the behaviours of a human being. In the same way, emotions of a human are studied as per the research method named as interpretivism. In this, the main role is of feelings, or you can say that behaviour is an aspect that cannot be measured in the form of numbers. It is studied in subjective form. So you can say that interpretivism research philosophy is a qualitative method rather than quantitative. It is all about the personal belief of every individual that is under observation. The characteristics can be measured through interviews or observation.
Furthermore, surveys can be done for interpretivism research philosophy. In sociology, interpretivism research is used very frequently. Hence, in the light of the importance of interpretivism, this article aims to discuss about interpretivism research philosophy.
What is the Main Focus of Interpretivism?
In the field of sociology, you have to work on two main factors of a human. The first one is all the aspects that are measurable directly. On the other hand, the second factor is all about the characteristics that cannot be measured directly. All the characteristics that cannot be measured directly are observed through interpretivism research philosophy. In this methodology, you are supposed to work on the opinions, norms, values, and feelings of a person. The main focus of interpretivism research philosophy is to study human interest.
In interpretivism, every person is evaluated on an individual basis, and after that, every individual is compared with the other one. This approach helps in identifying what the reasons are that make two people different from each other. Furthermore, how do two people of the same age groups differentiate from each other? Similarly, it helps in identifying why people of the same area having different ages go for a particular interest. First of all, you have to make a hypothesis and then research on that to see if it is right or wrong.
Data Collection:
Another main focus of interpretivism research philosophy is on data collection. In this research methodology, primary and secondary both types of data collection are used. The more preferable type is primary data collection. The reason behind this priority is to increase the accuracy of end results. The secondary research approach can also be used based on the need of the hour. If you feel any issue in the secondary research, you can hire dissertation writing services UK from experts.
At organisational level, the main focus of interpretivism research philosophy is to identify the ethical considerations and impacts of working culture. The end results help in changing the existing culture of organization. Likewise, the main focus of interpretivism varies from objective to objective.
What is Interpretivism Research Method?
In research work, you have to deal with two types of methodologies. The first one is quantitative, while the second one is the qualitative method. In a qualitative method, the subjective study is done on a particular topic. When this subjective study is linked with human behaviours, the study is done through interpretivism research philosophy. In interpretivism, a set of different approaches can be observed. Each approach is selected or rejected on some ground bases. A single problem is selected for research, and then different aspects of that problem are studied in detail. You can achieve your objective by using a single method, or you may have to use multiple methods. All these steps are decided based on the problem of research.
What Are The Characteristics Of Interpretivism?
Following are some characteristics of interpretivism research philosophy:
- Interpretivism identifies that people follow their own set of choices. Their choices are not similar to each other. The reason behind this claim is that every person has a unique set of qualities. Similarly, they deal with different circumstances. Under a different set of traits and circumstances, an individual person shows different behaviours. That is how it becomes obvious that two different people would not react same.
- Another characteristic of interpretivism research philosophy is to get insights of every biased behaviour of a human. In this way, it becomes easy to find solutions for a discussed problem.
- The most commonly addressed characteristic of interpretivism is that it helps in assessing the most accurate data. With the help of other research methods, you can identify the happening in a particular event, but you cannot specify the reason behind it. In the case of interpretivism research philosophy, you can identify a particular happening as well as the reason behind it. Most of researcher prefers interpretivism research just because of this characteristic of identifying the reason. Here you get two benefits in a single research methodology.
Conducting Interpretivism
Interpretivism is easy to conduct for any purpose. You can collect data for analysis in three ways. The first way is to conduct an interview. In this approach, you can ask straightforward questions to the respondent. Based on the objectives of the research, you have to design questions for the interview. An important point to note is that you can also change questions based on the situation. So, keep this in your mind that you are not bound to strictly follow a pre-designed path.
The second way is to observe human behaviour. This approach is the easiest among all, but it has some terms and conditions. For data collection through observation, it is necessary for the observant to have experience. Without experience, it is very difficult to collect accurate data. The third way is to collect data from a survey. It is usually suggested to conduct different surveys and target potential audiences.
Final Thoughts
Interpretivism research philosophy is an approach to get insights into a particular happening. You can address the 5 W’s of research in interpretivism. That is how you get the detail of every aspect linked with your research problem. Irrespective of the other research methods, interpretivism does not work on identifying the happening of a particular event or behaviour, but it also identifies the reason behind it. From a general perspective, interpretivism research philosophy is done to study human behaviour so that changes can be made easily. You can also introduce a new culture in society or in organisation.