社会杂志 ›› 2019, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (1): 98-128.

• 专题：个案研究与社会学知识体系 • 上一篇    下一篇

思想史视野中的质性研究:以方法意涵的构建为例

罗祎楠   

  1. 北京大学政府管理学院政治学系
  • 出版日期:2019-01-20 发布日期:2019-01-20
  • 作者简介:罗祎楠,E-mail:yinanluo@pku.edu.cn

Understanding Qualitative Methods by Intellectual History Approach: A Focus on the Construction of Meaning in Research Context

LUO Yinan   

  1. Department of Political Science, School of Government, Peking University
  • Online:2019-01-20 Published:2019-01-20

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摘要：

本文尝试从思想史视角反思质性研究方法，以揭示被结构视角遮蔽的研究过程，从而探讨一种直面内心的反思性社会科学研究方式。思想史视角强调回到文本去阐释书写者赋予研究方法以意涵的思想过程。本文以“推论”“充分必要性”与“意义”等三种方法论立场中的方法意涵构建过程为例展现这样的思想过程：方法论如何引导了对特定研究方法的选择；当方法论与现实情况存在差距时，书写者如何在原有方法论立场中发展对质性方法新的理解以捍卫方法论的合理性；书写者如何在强调与其他立场的区分中发展对方法的理解。本文由此揭示了看似相同的方法背后所蕴含的巨大意涵和实践差异。一种围绕“意涵”展开的方法知识系统将有可能被建立起来。思想史视角为反思性的质性方法知识构建提供了可以付诸实践的路径。

关键词: 思想史视角, 意涵, 质性研究方法, 方法论, 结构视角

Abstract:

This article argues that the intellectual history approach generates new ways for understanding qualitative research. The approach focuses on the processes,in which the meanings of qualitative methods emerge in concrete contexts, and thus enables the researcher to interpret such meanings from authors' writings that claim the legitimacy of the methods in application. Through an in-depth discussion of three methodological perspectives,this article shows how the intellectual history approach can deepen our understanding of qualitative methods by shifting our focus from the taken-for-granted meaning structures bestowed outwardly,to the mechanism by which the concrete meanings emerge,alter and are retained within the subjective world of the authors. These concreate meanings can be seen as an outcome of the researchers' intention to reconcile the enduring insufficiency of methodological designs with the actual changing situation that they intend to explain in the real world. This article thus brings back the issue of meanings to the current discussion of qualitative methods. It is argued that theexisting discussion tends to emphasize either the normative or the structural dimension of qualitative methods while ignores the concrete and fluid meanings of those methods as well as the contexts that produce them. With this in mind, the article suggests a new direction for understanding qualitative research.

Key words: methodology, meaning, qualitative research methods, intellectual history approach