Interpretivism: Exploring meaning making, intentional action, and group life in coaching research

Intepretivists focus on exploring the meaning-making, choices, and intentional actions of individuals and groups. In this chapter, the authors outline the basic tenets of interpretivism, before presenting it as a lens through which coaching and coach education can be critically investigated. The authors begin by providing an overview of the ontological, epistemological, and methodological assumptions of the interpretive paradigm. Following this background information, the authors then discuss their experiences of conducting interpretive coaching research. Here, the focus is placed on a) how they came to adopt the interpretive stance in their work, b) sharing some illustrative examples of their research, and c) providing some brief reflections on the essentially interactive and emotional challenges that are a feature of this work.