Interpretation and Method : Empirical Research Methods and the Interpretive Turn

This book demonstrates the relevance, rigor, and creativity of interpretive research methodologies for political science and its various sub-fields. Designed for use in a course on interpretive research methods, or as a second text in a course in which the instructor seeks a balance between positivist and interpretive approaches, the book situates methods questions within the context of broader methodological questions - specifically, the character of social realities and their ''know-ability.'' Exceptionally clear and well-written chapters provide engaging discussions of the methods of accessing, generating, and analyzing social science data, using methods ranging from reflexive historical analysis to critical ethnography. Reflecting on their own research experiences, the expert contributors offer an inside, applied perspective on how topics, evidence, and methods intertwine to produce knowledge in the social sciences. CONTENTS......Page 7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 9 INTRODUCTION......Page 11 MAKING METHODS EXPLICIT......Page 13 SO WHAT’S WRONG WITH “QUALITATIVE”?......Page 15 VARIETIES OF INTERPRETIVE ANALYTIC METHODS......Page 19 METHODS, METHODOLOGIES, AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES: PERSONAL REFLECTIONS......Page 22 NOTES......Page 24 PART I MEANING AND METHODOLOGY......Page 31 CHAPTER 1 THINKING INTERPRETIVELY: PHILOSOPHICAL PRESUPPOSITIONS AND THE HUMAN SCIENCES......Page 33 TRUTH CLAIMS: EVIDENCE, KNOWLEDGE, AND THE CHARACTER OF SCIENCE......Page 36 UNDERSTANDING VERSTEHEN: INTERPRETIVE GROUNDING......Page 37 THE MEANING OF MEANING: PHENOMENOLOGY’S LIFEWORLD......Page 39 THE EXPRESSION OF MEANING: HERMENEUTICS AND ARTIFACTS......Page 43 PROCESSES OF MEANING MAKING......Page 45 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS......Page 49 NOTES......Page 51 CHAPTER 2 CONTENDING CONCEPTIONS OF SCIENCE AND POLITICS Methodology and the Constitution of the Political......Page 55 CONTENDING CONCEPTIONS OF SCIENCE......Page 57 METHODOLOGY AND THE CONSTITUTION OF POLITICAL LIFE......Page 75 NOTES......Page 76 CHAPTER 3 GENERALIZATION IN COMPARATIVE AND HISTORICAL SOCIAL SCIENCE The Difference That Interpretivism Makes......Page 78 BEFORE “COMPARATIVE HISTORICAL ANALYSIS”......Page 80 COMPARISON, HISTORY, AND THE PURSUIT OF THE “GENERAL” IN POST-PARSONIAN SOCIAL SCIENCE......Page 85 CONCLUSION......Page 91 NOTES......Page 93 CHAPTER 4 NEITHER RIGOROUS NOR OBJECTIVE? Interrogating Criteria for Knowledge Claims in Interpretive Science......Page 95 PARSING RIGOR AND OBJECTIVITY......Page 96 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS: RHETORICAL USES OF ARGUMENTATION......Page 109 NOTES......Page 112 CHAPTER 5 JUDGING QUALITY Evaluative Criteria and Epistemic Communities......Page 117 UNDERSTANDING THE INTERPRETIVE RESEARCH GESTALT......Page 120 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE “CRITERIA LITERATURE”: CLASSIC TEXTS......Page 121 CRITERIA: AN EVOLVING DEBATE......Page 122 AN INDUCTIVE APPROACH TO A SET OF CRITERIA......Page 128 BUT WHAT ABOUT CAUSALITY AND GENERALIZABILITY?......Page 136 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS: EPISTEMIC COMMUNITIES AND JUDGMENT......Page 137 NOTES......Page 138 PART II ACCESSING AND GENERATING DATA......Page 143 CHAPTER 6 TALKING OUR WAY TO MEANINGFUL EXPLANATIONS A Practice-Centered View of Interviewing for Interpretive Research......Page 155 SO, WHAT MAKES INTERVIEW RESEARCH INTERPRETIVE?......Page 158 SO, WHAT IS AN IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW AND WHAT MAKES IT IN DEPTH?......Page 162 IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS FOR INTERPRETIVE RESEARCH......Page 166 CONCLUSION: ON EMOTION AND THE IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW......Page 171 NOTES......Page 174 CHAPTER 7 ORDINARY LANGUAGE INTERVIEWING......Page 178 WHAT IS ORDINARY LANGUAGE INTERVIEWING?......Page 179 WHAT CAN BE LEARNED THROUGH ORDINARY LANGUAGE INTERVIEWING?......Page 181 HOW DOES ONE CONDUCT AN ORDINARY LANGUAGE INTERVIEW?......Page 182 CONCLUSION......Page 186 NOTES......Page 188 CHAPTER 8 SEEING WITH AN ETHNOGRAPHIC SENSIBILITY Explorations Beneath the Surface of Public Policies......Page 189 PARTICIPANT-OBSERVATION: WE ALL DO IT, BUT SOME OF US TAKE NOTES AND LOOK FOR PATTERNS......Page 192 MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE......Page 194 ETHNOGRAPHIC SENSIBILITY AND POLICY ANALYSIS......Page 198 CULTIVATING AN ETHNOGRAPHIC SENSIBILITY......Page 200 NOTES......Page 203 CHAPTER 9 HIGH POLITICS AND LOW DATA Globalization Discourses and Popular Culture......Page 204 HIGH POLITICS VERSUS LOW DATA......Page 205 A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK......Page 206 VARIETIES OF TEXTUAL EVIDENCE......Page 209 NOTES......Page 213 CHAPTER 10 THE NUMERATION OF EVENTS Studying Political Protest in India......Page 215 THE CONCEPT OF DOMESTIC PROTEST AND ITS NUMERICAL CHARACTERIZATION......Page 216 THE CONCEPT OF PROTEST AND THE INTERPRETIVE ALTERNATIVE......Page 226 NOTES......Page 227 PART III ANALYZING DATA......Page 231 CHAPTER 11 POLITICAL SCIENCE AS HISTORY: A REFLEXIVE APPROACH......Page 243 THE USES OF HISTORY IN DEMOCRATIC PEACE RESEARCH......Page 247 A REFLEXIVE CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEACE......Page 249 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS......Page 254 NOTES......Page 255 CHAPTER 12 STUDYING THE CAREERS OF KNOWLEDGE CLAIMS Applying Science Studies to Legal Studies......Page 256 FRAME ANALYSIS......Page 259 SCIENCE STUDIES......Page 261 TWO APPLICATIONS......Page 263 NOTES......Page 269 CHAPTER 13 ETHNOGRAPHY, IDENTITY, AND THE PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE......Page 272 EGYPTIAN-AMERICAN......Page 275 RESEARCHER......Page 276 CLASS......Page 281 GENDER......Page 282 RELIGION......Page 283 CONCLUSION: PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE AND THEORETICAL INSIGHT......Page 285 NOTES......Page 289 CHAPTER 14 MAKING SENSE OF MAKING SENSE Configurational Analysis and the Double Hermeneutic......Page 292 AGENCY AND THE DOUBLE HERMENEUTIC......Page 295 SINGLE HERMENEUTICS......Page 297 LEGITIMATION: PRESERVING THE DOUBLE HERMENEUTIC......Page 298 IMPLEMENTING THE PROGRAM: MOMENTS AND MECHANISMS......Page 299 CONCLUSION......Page 306 NOTES......Page 307 CHAPTER 15 HOW NARRATIVES EXPLAIN......Page 309 PHILOSOPHY AND METHOD......Page 311 NARRATIVE EXPLANATIONS......Page 313 TRADITIONS AND DILEMMAS......Page 315 EPISTEMIC VALIDITY......Page 317 NOTES......Page 318 CHAPTER 16 CRITICAL INTERPRETATION AND INTERWAR PEACE MOVEMENTS Challenging Dominant Narratives......Page 319 IDENTIFY DOMINANT INTERPRETATIONS......Page 322 COLLECT PRIMARY EVIDENCE......Page 323 DEVISE A METHOD OF SELECTION WHEN SOURCES ARE TOO NUMEROUS......Page 324 RESEARCH THE PRACTICAL PROBLEMS OF EVIDENCE ACCUMULATION......Page 325 BE SELF-REFLEXIVE ABOUT ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS......Page 326 CHAPTER 17 VALUE-CRITICAL POLICY ANALYSIS The Case of Language Policy in the United States......Page 328 VALUE-CRITICAL ANALYSIS: A STEP-BY-STEP ARTICULATION......Page 330 NOTES......Page 343 CHAPTER 18 STORIES FOR RESEARCH......Page 344 NARRATIVE FIELD RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY......Page 347 STORIES AND OTHER TEXTS......Page 348 STORIES FOR RESEARCH......Page 349 STORY COLLECTION......Page 352 STORY ANALYSIS......Page 354 ONE STORY OF MANY......Page 355 CITIZEN-AGENT NARRATIVE......Page 356 THOUGHTS ON DISCOVERY, COLLABORATION, AND INCONCLUSIVENESS......Page 357 NOTES......Page 358 CHAPTER 19 INTERPRETIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS Stories and Arguments in Analytical Documents......Page 359 POLICY CONTEXT FOR THE BLM WILDERNESS EISS......Page 360 DEFINING TERMS: CONTENT ANALYSIS, STORIES, AND ARGUMENTS......Page 362 FROM STATISTICAL TO INTERPRETIVE ANALYSES......Page 363 EISS, SENSE MAKING, AND INTERPRETIVE ANALYSIS......Page 364 SUMMARIZING QUESTIONS IN AN INTERPRETIVE APPROACH TO TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS......Page 374 NOTES......Page 376 CHAPTER 20 HOW BUILT SPACES MEAN A Semiotics of Space......Page 377 STUDYING BUILT SPACES......Page 380 ACCESSING SPACE DATA......Page 381 ANALYZING SPACE DATA: SPACE AS NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION......Page 384 MAKING SENSE OF SPACES......Page 389 NOTES......Page 392 PART IV RE-RECOGNIZING INTERPRETIVE METHODOLOGIES IN THE HUMAN SCIENCES......Page 395 CHAPTER 21 WE CALL IT A GRAIN OF SAND The Interpretive Orientation and a Human Social Science......Page 401 NOTES......Page 406 CHAPTER 22 DOING SOCIAL SCIENCE IN A HUMANISTIC MANNER......Page 408 PERSPECTIVES FROM THE SOCIOLOGY OF THE PROFESSIONS AND SCIENCE STUDIES......Page 409 ARE THERE, INDEED, INTERPRETIVE “METHODS”? DEBATES WITHIN INTERPRETIVE EPISTEMIC COMMUNITIES......Page 412 WHAT IS AT STAKE? KNOWLEDGE MAKING AND POLITICS......Page 415 RECLAIMING HUMAN SCIENCE......Page 417 A RE-TURN TO HUMANISM......Page 418 NOTES......Page 420 REFERENCES......Page 423 ABOUT THE EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS......Page 457 INDEX......Page 461 %002aYANOW epigraph CONTENTS 7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 9 INTRODUCTION 11 MAKING METHODS EXPLICIT 13 SO WHAT’S WRONG WITH “QUALITATIVE”? 15 VARIETIES OF INTERPRETIVE ANALYTIC METHODS 19 METHODS, METHODOLOGIES, AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES: PERSONAL REFLECTIONS 22 NOTES 24 PART I MEANING AND METHODOLOGY 31 CHAPTER 1 THINKING INTERPRETIVELY: PHILOSOPHICAL PRESUPPOSITIONS AND THE HUMAN SCIENCES 33 TRUTH CLAIMS: EVIDENCE, KNOWLEDGE, AND THE CHARACTER OF SCIENCE 36 UNDERSTANDING VERSTEHEN: INTERPRETIVE GROUNDING 37 THE MEANING OF MEANING: PHENOMENOLOGY’S LIFEWORLD 39 THE EXPRESSION OF MEANING: HERMENEUTICS AND ARTIFACTS 43 PROCESSES OF MEANING MAKING 45 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS 49 NOTES 51 CHAPTER 2 CONTENDING CONCEPTIONS OF SCIENCE AND POLITICS Methodology and the Constitution of the Political 55 CONTENDING CONCEPTIONS OF SCIENCE 57 METHODOLOGY AND THE CONSTITUTION OF POLITICAL LIFE 75 NOTES 76 CHAPTER 3 GENERALIZATION IN COMPARATIVE AND HISTORICAL SOCIAL SCIENCE The Difference That Interpretivism Makes 78 BEFORE “COMPARATIVE HISTORICAL ANALYSIS” 80 COMPARISON, HISTORY, AND THE PURSUIT OF THE “GENERAL” IN POST-PARSONIAN SOCIAL SCIENCE 85 CONCLUSION 91 NOTES 93 CHAPTER 4 NEITHER RIGOROUS NOR OBJECTIVE? Interrogating Criteria for Knowledge Claims in Interpretive Science 95 PARSING RIGOR AND OBJECTIVITY 96 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS: RHETORICAL USES OF ARGUMENTATION 109 NOTES 112 CHAPTER 5 JUDGING QUALITY Evaluative Criteria and Epistemic Communities 117 UNDERSTANDING THE INTERPRETIVE RESEARCH GESTALT 120 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE “CRITERIA LITERATURE”: CLASSIC TEXTS 121 CRITERIA: AN EVOLVING DEBATE 122 AN INDUCTIVE APPROACH TO A SET OF CRITERIA 128 BUT WHAT ABOUT CAUSALITY AND GENERALIZABILITY? 136 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS: EPISTEMIC COMMUNITIES AND JUDGMENT 137 NOTES 138 PART II ACCESSING AND GENERATING DATA 143 CHAPTER 6 TALKING OUR WAY TO MEANINGFUL EXPLANATIONS A Practice-Centered View of Interviewing for Interpretive Research 155 SO, WHAT MAKES INTERVIEW RESEARCH INTERPRETIVE? 158 SO, WHAT IS AN IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW AND WHAT MAKES IT IN DEPTH? 162 IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS FOR INTERPRETIVE RESEARCH 166 CONCLUSION: ON EMOTION AND THE IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW 171 NOTES 174 CHAPTER 7 ORDINARY LANGUAGE INTERVIEWING 178 WHAT IS ORDINARY LANGUAGE INTERVIEWING? 179 WHAT CAN BE LEARNED THROUGH ORDINARY LANGUAGE INTERVIEWING? 181 HOW DOES ONE CONDUCT AN ORDINARY LANGUAGE INTERVIEW? 182 CONCLUSION 186 NOTES 188 CHAPTER 8 SEEING WITH AN ETHNOGRAPHIC SENSIBILITY Explorations Beneath the Surface of Public Policies 189 PARTICIPANT-OBSERVATION: WE ALL DO IT, BUT SOME OF US TAKE NOTES AND LOOK FOR PATTERNS 192 MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE 194 ETHNOGRAPHIC SENSIBILITY AND POLICY ANALYSIS 198 CULTIVATING AN ETHNOGRAPHIC SENSIBILITY 200 NOTES 203 CHAPTER 9 HIGH POLITICS AND LOW DATA Globalization Discourses and Popular Culture 204 HIGH POLITICS VERSUS LOW DATA 205 A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 206 VARIETIES OF TEXTUAL EVIDENCE 209 CONCLUSION: LOW DATA AND HIGH POLITICS REVISITED 213 NOTES 213 CHAPTER 10 THE NUMERATION OF EVENTS Studying Political Protest in India 215 THE PROBLEM 216 THE CONCEPT OF DOMESTIC PROTEST AND ITS NUMERICAL CHARACTERIZATION 216 THE CONCEPT OF PROTEST AND THE INTERPRETIVE ALTERNATIVE 226 NOTES 227 PART III ANALYZING DATA 231 CHAPTER 11 POLITICAL SCIENCE AS HISTORY: A REFLEXIVE APPROACH 243 THE USES OF HISTORY IN DEMOCRATIC PEACE RESEARCH 247 A REFLEXIVE CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEACE 249 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS 254 NOTES 255 CHAPTER 12 STUDYING THE CAREERS OF KNOWLEDGE CLAIMS Applying Science Studies to Legal Studies 256 FRAME ANALYSIS 259 SCIENCE STUDIES 261 TWO APPLICATIONS 263 CONCLUSION 269 NOTES 269 CHAPTER 13 ETHNOGRAPHY, IDENTITY, AND THE PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE 272 EGYPTIAN-AMERICAN 275 RESEARCHER 276 CLASS 281 GENDER 282 RELIGION 283 REGIONAL BACKGROUND 285 CONCLUSION: PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE AND THEORETICAL INSIGHT 285 NOTES 289 CHAPTER 14 MAKING SENSE OF MAKING SENSE Configurational Analysis and the Double Hermeneutic 292 AGENCY AND THE DOUBLE HERMENEUTIC 295 NEOPOSITIVISM 297 SINGLE HERMENEUTICS 297 LEGITIMATION: PRESERVING THE DOUBLE HERMENEUTIC 298 IMPLEMENTING THE PROGRAM: MOMENTS AND MECHANISMS 299 CONCLUSION 306 NOTES 307 CHAPTER 15 HOW NARRATIVES EXPLAIN 309 PHILOSOPHY AND METHOD 311 NARRATIVE EXPLANATIONS 313 TRADITIONS AND DILEMMAS 315 EPISTEMIC VALIDITY 317 NOTES 318 CHAPTER 16 CRITICAL INTERPRETATION AND INTERWAR PEACE MOVEMENTS Challenging Dominant Narratives 319 IDENTIFY DOMINANT INTERPRETATIONS 322 ADDRESS THE ISSUE OF ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATIONS 323 COLLECT PRIMARY EVIDENCE 323 ASSESS SECONDARY EVIDENCE 324 CHOOSE SOURCES FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES 324 DEVISE A METHOD OF SELECTION WHEN SOURCES ARE TOO NUMEROUS 324 UNDERSTAND THE PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEMS OF EVIDENCE ACCUMULATION 325 RESEARCH THE PRACTICAL PROBLEMS OF EVIDENCE ACCUMULATION 325 DO NOT EMPHASIZE FINDING “SMOKING GUNS” 326 PUT THE EVIDENCE TOGETHER 326 BE SELF-REFLEXIVE ABOUT ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS 326 CHAPTER 17 VALUE-CRITICAL POLICY ANALYSIS The Case of Language Policy in the United States 328 VALUE-CRITICAL ANALYSIS: A STEP-BY-STEP ARTICULATION 330 CONCLUDING THOUGHT 343 NOTES 343 CHAPTER 18 STORIES FOR RESEARCH 344 NARRATIVE FIELD RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY 347 A PEDAGOGY OF STORY-BASED RESEARCH 348 STORIES AND OTHER TEXTS 348 STORIES FOR RESEARCH 349 A PRACTICUM FOR DOING FIELD-BASED STORY RESEARCH 352 STORY COLLECTION 352 STORY ANALYSIS 354 ONE STORY OF MANY 355 CITIZEN-AGENT NARRATIVE 356 THE REVELATIONS OF SILENCE 357 THOUGHTS ON DISCOVERY, COLLABORATION, AND INCONCLUSIVENESS 357 NOTES 358 CHAPTER 19 INTERPRETIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS Stories and Arguments in Analytical Documents 359 POLICY CONTEXT FOR THE BLM WILDERNESS EISS 360 DEFINING TERMS: CONTENT ANALYSIS, STORIES, AND ARGUMENTS 362 FROM STATISTICAL TO INTERPRETIVE ANALYSES 363 EISS, SENSE MAKING, AND INTERPRETIVE ANALYSIS 364 CHECKING IN WITH THE BLM 374 SUMMARIZING QUESTIONS IN AN INTERPRETIVE APPROACH TO TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS 374 NOTES 376 CHAPTER 20 HOW BUILT SPACES MEAN A Semiotics of Space 377 STUDYING BUILT SPACES 380 ACCESSING SPACE DATA 381 ANALYZING SPACE DATA: SPACE AS NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION 384 MAKING SENSE OF SPACES 389 NOTES 392 PART IV RE-RECOGNIZING INTERPRETIVE METHODOLOGIES IN THE HUMAN SCIENCES 395 CHAPTER 21 WE CALL IT A GRAIN OF SAND The Interpretive Orientation and a Human Social Science 401 NOTES 406 CHAPTER 22 DOING SOCIAL SCIENCE IN A HUMANISTIC MANNER 408 PERSPECTIVES FROM THE SOCIOLOGY OF THE PROFESSIONS AND SCIENCE STUDIES 409 ARE THERE, INDEED, INTERPRETIVE “METHODS”? DEBATES WITHIN INTERPRETIVE EPISTEMIC COMMUNITIES 412 WHAT IS AT STAKE? KNOWLEDGE MAKING AND POLITICS 415 RECLAIMING HUMAN SCIENCE 417 A RE-TURN TO HUMANISM 418 NOTES 420 REFERENCES 423 ABOUT THE EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS 457 INDEX 461 Thinking Interpretively : Philosophical Presuppositions And The Human Sciences / Dvora Yanow -- Contending Conceptions Of Science And Politics : Methodology And The Constitution Of The Political / Mary Hawkesworth -- Generalization In Comparative And Historical Social Science : The Difference That Interpretivism Makes / Robert Adcock -- Neither Rigorous Nor Objective? Interroating Criteria For Knowledge Claims In Interpretive Science / Dvora Yanow -- Judging Quality : Evaluative Criteria And Epistemic Communities / Peregrine Schwartz-shea -- Talking Our Way To Meaningful Explanations : A Practice-centered View Of Interviewing For Interpretive Research / Joe Soss -- Ordinary Language Interviewing / Frederic Charles Schaffer -- Seeing With An Ethnographic Sensibility : Explorations Beneath The Surface Of Public Policies / Ellen Pader -- High Politics And Low Data : Globalization Discourses And Popular Culture / Jutta Weldes --^ The Numeration Of Events : Studying Political Protest In India / Dean E. Mchenry, Jr -- Political Science As History : A Reflexive Approach / Ido Oren -- Studying The Careers Of Knowledge Claims : Applying Science Studies To Legal Studies / Pamela Brandwein -- Ethnography, Identity, And The Production Of Knowledge / Samer Shehata -- Making Sense Of Making Sense : Configurational Analysis And The Double Hermeneutic / Patrick Thaddeus Jackson -- How Narratives Explain / Mark Bevir -- Critical Interpretation And Interwar Peace Movements : Challenging Dominant Narratives / Cecelia Lynch -- Value-critical Policy Analysis : The Case Of Language Policy In The United States / Ronald Schmidt, Sr. -- Stories For Research / Steven Maynard-moody And Michael Musheno -- Interpretive Content Analysis : Stories And Arguments In Analytic Documents / Clare Ginger -- How Built Spaces Mean : A Semiotics Of Space / Dvora Yanow --^ We Call It A Grain Of Sand : The Interpretive Orientation And A Human Social Science / Timothy Pachirat -- Doing Social Science In A Humanistic Manner / Dvora Yanow And Peregrine Schwartz-shea. Edited By Dvora Yanow And Peregrine Schwartz-shea. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 395-428) And Index. Thinking interpretively / Dvora Yanow Contending conceptions of science and politics / Mary Hawkesworth Generalization in comparative and historical social science / Robert Adcock Neither rigorous nor objective? / Dvora Yanow Judging quality / Peregrine Schwartz-Shea Talking our way to meaningful explanations / Joe Soss Ordinary language interviewing / Frederic Charles Schaffer Seeing with an ethnographic sensibility / Ellen Pader High politics and low data / Jutta Weldes The numeration of events / Dean E. McHenry, Jr Political science as history / Ido Oren Studying the careers of knowledge claims / Pamela Brandwein Ethnography, identity, and the production of knowledge / Samer Shehata Making sense of making sense / Patrick Thaddeus Jackson How narratives explain / Mark Bevir Critical interpretation and interwar peace movements / Cecelia Lynch Value-critical policy analysis / Ronald Schmidt, Sr. Stories for research / Steven Maynard-Moody and Michael Musheno Interpretive content analysis / Clare Ginger How built spaces mean / Dvora Yanow We call it a grain of sand / Timothy Pachirat Thinking and doing social science in a humanistic manner / Dvora Yanow and Peregrine Schwartz-Shea. This book demonstrates the relevance, rigor, and creativity of interpretive research methodologies for the social and human sciences. Designed for use either in a course devoted to interpretive or qualitative research methods or in a course in which the instructor seeks a balance between positivist and interpretive approaches, the book situates methods questions within the context of broader methodological questions specifically, the character of social realities and their "know-ability." Exceptionally clear and well-written chapters provide engaging discussions of the methods of accessing, generating, and analyzing social science data, using methods ranging from reflexive historical analysis to critical ethnography. Reflecting on their own research experiences, the contributors offer an inside, applied perspective on how research topics, evidence, and methods intertwine to produce knowledge in the social sciences