Bridging Positivist and Interpretivist Approaches to Qualitative Methods
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6330723 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ann Chih Lin (0000-0002-0925-6884, University of Michigan, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1998 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 162-180 |
| Publication date | 1998-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Policy Studies Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0190-292X • E-ISSN: 1541-0072 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1541-0072.1998.tb01931.x |
| OpenAlex | W2070250726 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 114 |
| References cited | 18 |
The usual juxtaposition of qualitative research against quantitative research makes it easy to miss the fact that qualitative research itself encompasses at least two traditions: positivist and interpretivist. Positivist work seeks to identify qualitative data with propositions that can then be tested or identified in other cases, while interpretive work seeks to combine those data into systems of belief whose manifestations are specific to a case. In this paper, I argue that discovering causal relationships is the province of positivist research, while discovering causal mechanisms is the province of interpretivists. I explain why absolutist claims for one or the other approach are mistaken, and argue that the combination of both makes more sense. Finally, I offer suggestions for combinations of positivist and interpretive work, both at the level of thought experiment and in actual data collection and analysis. Throughout, I draw my examples from recent studies of poverty, a field in which a small but distinguished tradition of qualitative studies of the poor has been joined by a growing body of both positivist and interpretive work
Epistemology · Field (mathematics · Positivism · Qualitative property · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics · Computer Science · Engineering · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Philosophy · Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
Household rainwater tanks
It is a Working Hypothesis
Constructing Policy Theory
Policy Analysis as Discursive Practice
Public Policy as Discursive Construct
The Deliberative Policy Analyst
Postempiricist Foundations
Making Social Science Relevant
Public Policy as Narrative
Interpreting Public Policy
Discourse Versus Advocacy Coalitions
Citizens and Experts
Public Policy and Discourse Analysis
Democracy and Expertise
What is wrong with positivist policy process theories? Controversies over empirically grasping policy complexity
Reframing Public Policy
From the Manpower Revolution to the Activation Paradigm
From the Manpower Revolution to the Activation Paradigm
Using mixed methods for the analysis of individuals
Financial Literacy Programming in Higher Education
The influence of new public management on the police first-line manager
Adopting agile in government
Sensemaking and Persuasive Sensegiving
Challenging Paradigmatic Homogeneity in Special Education Research
The academic industry’s response to generative artificial intelligence
Deliberative Technology
Discursive Violence Analysis
Rhetorical strategy in stadium development politics
Whose Expertise and Whose Knowledge Matter? Influencing Wind Power Decisions in Norway
Area Studies/Asian Studies
Being undisciplined. On Your Marx
Political Science/Political Theory
Area Studies/Asian Studies
Anthropology
Philosophy and Critical Realism
Philosophy and Standpoint Theory
Sociology
Sociology and Economics
Defining Health Movements and Health Needs Across the Life Course
Tormenta en un vaso de agua? Hacia nuevas colaboraciones entre los enfoques convencionales de estudios de los procesos de política pública y los enfoques interpretativos de política pública
A Methodological Review of Exploring Turner’s Three-Process Theory of Power and the Social Identity Approach
Family Involvement Interventions in Child Protection
Foster Care Workers' Emotional Responses to Their Work
Coping with Poverty
Acknowledging the Stigmatized
Understanding and improving the health of workers in the new economy
The Association between Housing Stability and Perceived Quality of Life among Emerging Adults with a History of Homelessness
Contemporary Anti-Colonial Self-Determination Claims and the Decolonisation of International Law
Governance Lessons from Two Sumatran Integrated Conservation and Development Projects
Coexisting in the real world
Diverging energy horizons
The best-laid plans
If electric trucks are the solution, what are the problems? A study of agenda-setting in demonstration projects
Interpretivism in Aiding Our Understanding of the Contemporary Social World
Erased in Translation”
Same context, different political paths
Reading anonymity
Previewing Policy Sciences
Supporting thinking on sample sizes for thematic analyses
Social media’s have-nots
Perceived care coordination among permanent supportive housing participants
Neoliberalism and higher education
The Life Cycle of Moral Conflicts
A sensemaking lens on reliability
Distinguishing Participation and Inclusion
The Narrative Production of Stakeholder Engagement Processes
Conceptual Disruption
What Theorists Do
Duet or Duel? A Portrait of Two Logics of Reading Instruction in an Urban School District
Early childhood interventionists' perspectives on serving maltreated infants and toddlers
Age management in the workplace
Comparative analysis of health policy implementation
Although Burdened, Do We Need to Do More?” Street-Level Bureaucrats’ Organizational Citizenship Behaviors in Poverty Alleviation Policy Implementation
The Iron Cage of Methodology
Tokowa po ya ekolo ”
Child Welfare Practice in Organizational and Institutional Context
Assessing Qualitative Studies in Public Administration Research
Public‐Value Failure
The Big Society,” Public Expenditure, and Volunteering
Think tank 2.0 for deliberative policy analysis
Tempest in a teapot? Toward new collaborations between mainstream policy process studies and interpretive policy studies
Hajer’s institutional void and legitimacy without polity
Reward Systems and NSF University Research Centers
Beyond the empirical and the discursive
A Step-by-Step Process of Thematic Analysis to Develop a Conceptual Model in Qualitative Research
Integrating Rigor and Relevance in Public Administration Scholarship
Making Sense of Stories
Narratives of Development
Privacy and cybersecurity issues facing the metaverse
Federal Administrative and Judicial Oversight of Medicaid
Introduction
Causal Assessment in Small‐N Policy Studies
Concept Formation in Political Science
The Consequences of Public Policy for Democratic Citizenship
Viewing Low-Income Fathers' Ties to Families through a Cultural Lens
Barriers and facilitators of antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence habit formation in Sub-Saharan Africa
Which Master of Business Administration (MBA)? Factors influencing prospective students' choice of MBA programme - an empirical study
Reaching the parts that other theories and methods can't reach
Justice, Context, and Violence
The Missing Link Revisited
The courts and social policy
Poor Support
Welfare Realities
The Art and Craft of Policy Analysis
Streetwise
Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Research
The Interpretation of Cultures
All our kin
Living on the Edge
Falling from Grace
Strategies for Interpreting Qualitative Data
The National Supported Work Demonstration
Naturalistic inquiry
Backward Mapping
The Importance of Research Design in Political Science
Surviving the Welfare System
| Unique citing works | 114 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,07 |
| Citation span | 1998 - 2026 (29) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 113 |