Introduction to Qualitative Research in IS: Hermeneutics

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1 Introduction to Qualitative Research in IS: Hermeneutics Researching and Publishing Using Process Modelling to Understand IS Development Professor Mike Newman Manchester Business School Professor Mike Newman [Grateful acknowledgments to Michael Myers] Centre for IT-management Aalborg University Manchester Business School A Qualitative Research Workshop for PhD students Seminar: KISS 09 February 9 th,10 th 2011 Mike Newman, University of Manchester

2 Hermeneutics defined Hermeneutics can be defined as the theory or philosophy of the interpretation of meaning ( Bleicher, 1980, p. 1). Hermeneutics is primarily concerned with the meaning of a text or text-analogue. A text-analogue is anything that can be treated as a text, t such as any human artifact, t action, organization or culture. The main objective of hermeneutics is human understanding: di understanding di what people say and do, and why. There are different kinds of hermeneutics, from pure hermeneutics through h to critical hermeneutics

3 Hermeneutics As a mode of analysis, hermeneutics suggests a way of understanding text or a text-analogue "Interpretation, in the sense relevant to hermeneutics, is an attempt to make clear, to make sense of an object of study. This object must, therefore, be a text, or a text-analogue, which in some way is confused, incomplete, cloudy, seemingly contradictory - in one way or another, unclear. The interpretation aims to bring to light an underlying coherence or sense" (Taylor 1976, p. 153). Hermeneutics can be used to help understand and explain the relationship between people, organisations and IS

4 Hermeneutic concepts 1. Historicity 2. The hermeneutic circle (read Boland et al. 2010) 3. Prejudice 4. Autonomization 5. Distanciation 6. Appropriation 7. Engagement

5 1. Historicity Historicity refers to the thesis that who we are is through and through historical Who we are is a function of the historical circumstances and community that we find ourselves in, the language we speak, the historically evolving habits and practice we appropriate, the temporally conditioned choices we make Hermeneutics defends the ontological claim that human beings are their history (Wachterhauser, 1986, p. 7).

6 2. The hermeneutic circle The hermeneutic circle refers to the dialectic between the understanding of the text as a whole and the interpretation of its parts, in which descriptions are guided by anticipated explanations (Gadamer , p. 117). The hermeneutic circle suggests that we understand a complex whole from preconceptions about the meanings of its parts Human understanding di is achieved by iterating ti between the parts and the whole which they form eg. Lee s (1994) study of information richness in communications - he iterates between the separate message fragments and the wider context which determines the full meaning of the separate messages

7 3. Prejudice Hermeneutics suggests that prejudice, pre-judgement or prior knowledge plays an important part in our understanding Our attempt to understand a text always involves some prior knowledge or expectation of what the text is about. In fact we cannot understand a text unless we have some understanding of the language Hermeneutics suggests that understanding always involves interpretation; interpretation means using one's own preconceptions so that the meaning of the object can become clear to us (Gadamer, 1975, p. 358). The critical task of hermeneutics then becomes one of distinguishing between true prejudices, by which we understand, from the false ones by which we misunderstand (Gadamer, 1976b, p. 124). As researchers we need to become aware of how our own views, biases, culture and personal history have a significant ifi impact on how we view the world.

8 4. Autonomization Ricoeur (1981) makes an important distinction between verbal speech and written text. He says that the author's meaning, once it is inscribed in a text, takes on a life of its own. This process of autonomization takes place whenever speech is inscribed in a text This means that t the text t now has an autonomous, "objective" existence independent of the author. Once something is published or in the public domain, it is virtually impossible to take it back. The Internet is a well-known vehicle for this.

9 5. Distanciation Distanciation refers to the inevitable distance that occurs in time and space between the text and its original author on the one hand, and the readers of the text t (the audience) on the other. Since the text takes on a life of its own, it becomes dissociated from the original author, the originally intended audience, and even its original meaning. Ricoeur suggests that the hermeneutic task is to make Aristotle's writings our own. The text is the medium through which we understand ourselves (Ricoeur, 1991, p. 87).

10 6. Appropriation and 7. Engagement Hermeneutic philosophers suggest that we only come to understand the meaning of a text if we appropriate p the meaning of a text for ourselves i.e. we make it our own. Gadamer suggests that t meaning does not reside in "the subjective feelings of the interpreter" nor in "the intentions of the author". Rather, meaning emerges from the engagement of reader and text. This process of critical engagement with the text is crucial.

11 Forms of hermeneutics Pure hermeneutics stresses empathic understanding and the understanding of human action from the inside Post-modern hermeneutics there is no such a thing as an objective or "true" meaning of a text. Facts are what a cultural, conversational community agree they are (Madison, 1990, p. 191). Critical hermeneutics disagrees with the post- modern idea that assumes that all interpretations are equally valid. Some interpretations are better than others. There are socio-economic and political constraints within which human communication takes place

12 Using hermeneutics In case studies and ethnographies about information systems phenomena, the text is social and political action Case study notes, interviews ie and documents record the views of the actors and describe certain events and so on (see Ricoeur, 1981, p. 197ff.). This material needs to be ordered, explained and interpreted in order to make sense of the case. The ordering is done according to the researcher s theoretical position and by comparing one text with another The researcher s understanding di of the whole has to be continually revised in view of the reinterpretation of the parts.

13 e.g. Locating the Techniques of Exegesis in the Hermeneutic Circle Textual criticism: establishing an accurate version of the original text for subsequent analysis. Linguistic criticism: establishing the accepted meaning of words and phrases in the community in which the text was produced at the time of its production. Literary Criticism: establishing how the meaning of a text is shaped by genre and literary devices, and how different ideologies used in reading the text yield different meanings. Historical criticism: establishing how the historical context at the time of writing affects the meaning, and what the historical meanings were. Form criticism: i establishing how local l social practices and oral traditions up to the time of committing the text to writing affect the meaning. Redaction criticism: establishing how the author's personal characteristics and actions in the creative act of writing affect the meaning.

14 Hermeneutic Traditions [Boland et al. 2010] Different hermeneutic traditions approach interpretation as either a process of recovering the author's original meaning uncovering a hidden meaning operating behind the author, or discovering a meaning beyond its author or context of creation (Gibbons, 1987).

15 A Rural ltl Tale A story was recently told concerning a certain village in a developing country 1. The villagers were approached by foreign aid workers with a view to making their lives easier 2. One of the features of village life that the experts noticed was the considerable time the women spent going quite long distances together to bring back water in jars to their huts 3. The experts considered this problem and came up with a fairly low-tech solution to ease the women s burden: they provided a pump and water pipe from the water supply and taps for each hut 4. Then, instead of walking several times a day to pick up the water, the women could fill up their jars as often as they wished at their huts 5. The experts, waiting perhaps for the accolades of the villagers were astounded instead by their hostile reaction: collectively, the women decided not to use the taps 6.

16 Indicative plan of the village, water source and WDS

17 Different Approaches to Hermeneutics The Hermeneutic Circle Textual analysis: Linguistic analysis: Literary analysis: Historical analysis: Hand written assignment from an MBA student at RSM Used as a didactic tool in classroom instructioni Foreign aid workers = experts: s2-3 Low-tech: s4 Accolades: s6 Genre: It is a story: s1 (entry, events, exit) Understatement: s3 considerable time quite long distances Collectivism: s3, s6 together ; collectively History, patterning and context Author details - MBA student was one of the experts Future: story becomes embellished as a saga about crazy foreigners

18 Hermeneutics (cont.) Form analysis: Redaction analysis: Speculating on this: There is likely to have been a sharing of techniques and methods of implementing solutions and dealing with resistant clients both orally and in written form. Form analysis looks at the writing of stories as a mechanical assembly of anecdotes, sagas, memos, reports, memory traces etc. Redaction analysis says that the author produces the text t creatively: it is difficult to untangle the author from the text. Other authors faced with the same events would produce a different text (this has implications for the process of interviewing). Conclusion: Hermeneutics takes us a long way in understanding the text