Maybe this is Speculative Now” Negotiating and Valuing Interpretations in Qualitative Research

Bibliographic Data

ID11275469
AuthorsOliver Berli (0000-0002-8582-5196, University of Cologne, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume44
Issue4
Pages765-790
Publication date2021-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0163-8548 • E-ISSN: 1572-851X
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s10746-021-09594-3
OpenAlexW3205451072
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited24

Interpretation groups, which meet on a regular basis for jointly analysing qualitative data, are well-established in sociology and related disciplines. There are currently at least 71 interpretation groups in German-speaking countries, and there are more if one includes project teams, which meet on a regular basis for data sessions. Yet, there is relatively little knowledge based on empirical research about these groups and their practices. Inspired by studies on social sciences and humanities (SSH), this article examines how “good” interpretations are jointly created in these groups. Prior studies underlined that social scientific methods are productive, i.e., performative. Following this lead, my study turns data analysis in qualitative research into an object of inquiry by investigating how interpretation groups work on textual data. More specifically, this article discusses how these groups negotiate different interpretative options and at the same time evaluate the quality of their results as well as the interpretation process as a whole. In this regard, the approach presented in this article also contributes to the growing literature on valuation and evaluation in science by focusing on communicative devices for valuing and evaluating interpretations

Epistemology · German · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Negotiation · Performative utterance · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociolinguistics · Sociology · Valuation (finance · Computer Science · Delphi Technique in Research · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research

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