Conducting Interpretive Policy Analysis

by Dvora Yanow

In this new and timely book in the Qualitative Research Methods series, author Dvora Yanow outlines a more interpretive approach to policy analysis. She begins by describing what interpretive approaches are, and what they can mean to policy analysis. Chapters on symbolic language, symbolic objects, and symbolic acts help shift the frame of reference from thinking about values as costs and benefits to thinking about them more as a set of meanings. Finally, the book concludes with a chapter on how to move from fieldwork to deskwork and textwork.

120 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1999

Reviews

[Sarah Clement · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was so much information in such a small package in this book. I tend to lean more toward the interpretivist side of the research paradigm spectrum, but I am nudged in the direction of a more (neo)positivist approach because of the lack of clarity provided by the alternatives to this dominant paradigm. This book is unique in that it offers practical steps on the HOW of conducting interpretive policy analysis; something that is sorely lacking in many books from constructivist and interpretive researchers. It won't provide you with a blueprint like an operating manual, however, so there is still quite a bit of room (and need) for the researcher to think. This is precisely what I find so appealing about interpretivism, as it doesn't direct you on where to go, but suggests places you might look and ways you might approach the many puzzles that arise in policy analysis. If you are someone that doesn't do well without a set of instructions, than the approach outlined by Yanow here is probably not for you. But if you like the idea of exploring the meaning that underlies the words and actions of policy-relevant actors (e.g. politicians, decision makers, street-level bureaucrats, agency personnel, etc.), then this book is for you. The process outlined in the book is one that can be applied in many different contexts because it is all about showing you how to make decisions that are right for your particular context.

I am impressed by how much information Yanow was able to pack into such a small book, and I really appreciated its brevity in light of all the reading I have to do. She doesn't cover methods in depth because she doesn't have the space, but she directs you to a wealth of resources that can help with that. My only complaint about this book is that I wish it would be updated. Although the basic premise remains the same, it would be great to have more recent references in the book, in this day where academia seems to be obsessed with only using "new" research.

[Mills College Library]

320.6 Y24 2000