Doing Interpretive Analysis

Interpretive analysis is a craft that we learnt to do, by doing it. This happened with the support of advisors who helped us develop the necessary epistemological under-labouring. Some years on, we aim to provide similar support to those we work with. Such dialogical processes unfold over time and do not lend themselves to easy depiction. Using a fictional but faithful rendering of innumerable chats we have had over the years, we craft a dialogue between two scholars. We seek to offer a different way ‘in’ to considering analysis by taking a creative approach to academic writing and thinking. The aim is to deliver an interesting, enjoyable and useful theoretical, epistemological and pedagogical contribution to the area. We outline some of the problems that developing scholars often face when employing a ‘how-to guide’ approach to analysis, build out a foundation from which to think about such things by considering our social nature, and offer some clear ways forward that we hope readers will be inspired to put into action. Our brief epilogue extends some specific insights in ways that we hope will encourage the pursuance of the scholarly craft.