Exhausted PhD students: can anyone explain hermeneutics (in the sense of qualitative research) to me?

[BreastmilkDoesAFabLatte]

Anyone? I've been up all night with DD for the past week and can barely see straight, and have got to discuss hermeneutics as a philosophical foundation of research with my supervisor next week.

TIA

i know nothing of hermeneutics but maybe this link will help? maybe not but i just feel sorry for you! perhaps somebody who knows what they are talking about will be along soon. are you a phd student? exciting!

Thanks. But which link?

aargh

this link

sorry. .

What are you doing? I do remeber once writing "a hermeneutic epistemology" in an essay, so I did know something about it once...

Thanks. That's a fab link. I don't think I'm llowed to disclose my topic/subject on here, but it's essentially a qualitative study into a group of people and what they all think about a certain issue. Which seems IMHO to lead itself to a hemeneutic type epistemology (Madonna would love to hear more). But DD has not slept for nights and I'm feeling so ill I can barely think straight.

i'm sorry to hear that you're feeling ill. i'm glad the link was cheering, its a great website. things will get better when your dd settles down i hope. best of luck .

I used to nod a lot and mention Gadamer. Worked for me

Poor you! I seem to remember (from research skills course) that you would analyse a phenomenon in terms of how it is understood both in its parts and in whole (using their words not yours to describe phenomena). I presume that would mean that you look at how your subjects describe it individually, as a group and then balance that perhaps against how society sees whatever your researching. I also remember somethign about the hermeneutical circle which meant something like you analyse the whole in terms of the parts and you go around and around from start to finish until you have exhausted the theme. I may remember completely wrong though...eeek I hope I haven't lead you astray! I do symphatise with the sleep deprivation though and I hope you feel better soon!

I remember a spiral, o dear!

There is a nice summary on Wiki if that helps. It seems to be quite subject specific.