Applying Ricoeur’s Hermeneutics to Qualitative Interpretation and Writing

• In Event: Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: Interrogating Data Analysis

Abstract

In this paper, we illuminate the ways in which Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics offers fresh perspectives regarding data interpretation and qualitative writing. We discuss the application of Ricoeur’s philosophies to the researcher/participant relationship, data analysis, and the poetics of writing qualitatively. We highlight Ricoeur’s notions of distanciation, hermeneutic arc, and mimesis (a term borrowed from Aristotle that means imitation). For illustrative purposes, we integrate data collected from our observations of and interviews with six doctoral students in a qualitative research class.

Authors

• Brett Hogan Bodily, North Lake College

• Sherri Rae Colby, Texas A&M University - Commerce