Conducting Interpretive Policy Analysis [Paperback]

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.

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.

Underlying Assumptions of an Interpretive Approach
The Importance of Local Knowledge
Accessing Local Knowledge
Identifying Interpretive Communities and Policy Artifacts
Symbolic Language
Symbolic Objects
Symbolic Acts
Moving from Fieldwork and Deskwork to Textwork and Beyond