Documentary Method of Interpretation

Definition of Documentary Method of Interpretation

The Canada social science dictionary [1] provides the following meaning of Documentary Method of Interpretation: This term was used by Karl Mannheim (1893-1947) and Alfred Schutz (1899-1959), but its current meaning derives from Harold Garfinkel, the founder of ethnomethodology. He asserts that the documentary method is a method which lay persons and sociologists alike use in commonsense reasoning about the world. The method consists of treating an actual appearance as the document of, or as pointing to, a presupposed underlying pattern. The child’s choice of toys (a boy choosing a truck or a girl choosing a doll) is seen as an indication of an underlying pattern of biological preferences (or for the sociologist, of gender socialization) Further, there is a reciprocal relationship between the ‘document’ and the underlying pattern: the underlying pattern is now given some legitimacy because of the observation of the individual ‘document’ -the child’s choice of toys. See: ETHNOMETHODOLOGY in this legal dictionary and in the world encyclopedia of law.

Documentary Method of Interpretation: Resources

Notes and References

• Drislane, R., & Parkinson, G. (2016). (Concept of) Documentary Method of Interpretation. Online dictionary of the social sciences. Open University of Canada