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The Rashomon Effect

Combining Positivist and Interpretivist Approaches in the Analysis of Contested Events

Harvard University wroth{at}wjh.harvard.edu

JAL D. MEHTA

Harvard University jmehta{at}fas.harvard.edu

Positivist and interpretivist analytical approaches are frequently believed to be incompatible as research strategies and ways of understanding the world. This article argues that not only may versions of positivism and interpretivism be combined in the analysis of contested events, but this combination can further the goals of both approaches by contributing information that may have been missed by adopting only one perspective. The authors illustrate this using two case studies of lethal school shootings near Paducah, Kentucky, and Jonesboro, Arkansas, and introduce methodological strategies to manage potential biases that may lead to contradictory testimony. However, these same contradictions act as distinct data points from the interpretivist perspective, offering insight into the cultural understandings of a community. The authors develop new forms of triangulation that are tailored to these research goals and illustrate how, just as positivist analysis may be used to aid interpretivism, an interpretive understanding of a community may be necessary to develop causal theories of contested events such as school shootings.

Sociological Methods & Research, Vol. 31, No. 2, 131-173 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/0049124102031002002


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