Hermeneutic theories of interpretation are at the core of qualitative methodologies and can be identified as belonging to either epistemological or ontological philosophical orientations. Concerns about validity in qualitative research have mainly been shaped by epistemological questions. What differentiates philosophical hermeneutics, an ontological perspective, from traditional hermeneutics is its radical departure from finding a “technique” of interpretation to proposing a hermeneutic ontology, where the hermeneutic task of understanding is thought to be our very way of being in the world. Unlike traditional interpretive approaches which often seek to maximize validity by eliciting a respondent’s account of an experience in a way that closely corresponds to that experience, philosophical hermeneutical approaches assert that the meaning of the experience is uniquely configured in the dialogic encounter itself. Dialogue is thought to offer a hermeneutic valence for people’s engagement with understanding and the means of encountering truth. Understanding, therefore, cannot be conceived of as a fixing of meaning but as an event in which meaning is generated and transformed. This article considers how philosophical hermeneutics might inform qualitative research when the aim is to understand.
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