1994/12/01 by Susan Spiggle · 2,884 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · Psychology · #Advertising #Business #Computer science #Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification #Consumer research #Culinary Culture and Tourism #Interpretation (philosophy) #Library science #Linguistics #Philosophy #Psychology #Qualitative research #Social science #Sociology #Wine Industry and Tourism
paper · doi:10.1086/209413
published in Journal of Consumer Research 21(3), 491 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 1994/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
This article presents a framework for thinking about the fundamental activities of inference--data analysis and interpretation--by researchers using qualitative data. I contrast these two activities. For analysis I describe seven operations: categorization, abstraction, comparison, dimensionalization, integration, iteration, and refutation. For interpretation I suggest metaphor and other literary devices as models for understanding the meanings of others, identifying patterns in these meanings, and representing how systems of meanings reproduce culture. The purpose of these descriptions is to suggest a vocabulary for and stimulate discussion about how researchers using qualitative analytical techniques arrive at conclusions and make sense of data. Copyright 1994 by the University of Chicago.