Ricoeur's Theory of Interpretation: An Instrument for Data Interpretation in Hermeneutic Phenomenology

Abstract

Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenology, although providing an appropriate philosophical foundation for research in the social sciences that seeks to investigate the meaning of lived experience, does not provide clarity of process, making it difficult to assign the degree of rigor to the work demanded in an era dominated by the positivist paradigm. Ricoeur (1981) further developed both Heidegger's and Gadamer's ideas, in the areas of method and interpretation of hermeneutic phenomenological research, in a direction that has addressed this difficulty. In this article the authors outline Ricoeur's theory, including three levels of data analysis, describe its application to the interpretation of data, and discuss two apparent contradictions in his theory. Ricoeur's theory of interpretation, as a tool for the interpretation of data in studies whose philosophical underpinning is hermeneutic phenomenology, deserves consideration by human sciences researchers who seek to provide a rigorous foundation for their work.

Internal brand co-creation: The experiential brand meaning cycle in higher education

“…According to Ricoeur (cited in Cunliffe & Coupland, 2012;Tan, Wilson, & Olver, 2009), appropriation is the stage where employees establish brand associations based on the co-created brand meaning, and develop their brand engagement. When they accept the co-created brand meaning as the brand reality, they fulfill their reader role.…”

Liminal mothers’ negotiation of conflicting service consumption

“…The final level of analysis, where the researcher moves between explanation and understanding, reintroduces existing theory and considers its applicability and explanatory power in light of the primary data. Here my pre-understanding from the literature, experiential gestalt, ethnographic encounters and pre-knowledge of the informants were used to restore the text to a living communication (Tan, 2009) and fuse my horizons with the participant, recasting understanding of the phenomenon (Arnold and Fischer, 1994).…”

Women Expatriate Leaders: How Leadership Behaviors Can Reduce Gender Barriers

“…Finally, each transcript was During the data analysis and coding process, there were several instances when the researcher listened to the original audio recordings, to get better sense of how the women verbally responded in certain instances. This helped in applying Ricoeur's theory of interpretation, and ensured that the subjects' words and intent were not lost within the written transcript (Tan et al, 2009).…”

“…While IPA does not utilize a specific method or process to conduct data analysis, a thorough review of literature devoted to phenomenological analysis was conducted to establish an acceptable analysis process (Crist & Tanner, 2003;Moustakas, 1994;King & Horrocks, 2010;Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009;Tan, Wilson & Olver, 2009;and Van Manen, 1990). After each participant interview, the researcher sent out the data for full transcription by a third party.…”