THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SATANIC CULT INVOLVEMENT: AN ...

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PART FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
13.1 The hermeneutic approach to psychological inquiry
The contemporary, or post-modern, period of social scientific research is perhaps best
characterised by pervasive doubt that "any discourse has a privileged place, any method or
theory a universal and general claim to authoritative knowledge" (Richardson cited in
Denzin & Lincoln, 1994, p. 2). One important consequence of this is that the research
questions posed are not predetermined by established research practices. Rather, research
methods are adapted or created to satisfy the demands of the research questions. The
broad research objective of this dissertation is to investigate the psychological meaning of
satanic cult involvement, thereby requiring a form ofqualitative methodology. Qualitative
research involves the "exploration, elaboration and systematization of the significance of
an identified phenomenon; [and] the illuminative representation of the meaning of a
delimited issue or problem" (Banister, et aI, 1994). The focus on meaning in qualitative
research involves the researcher in interpretive activity. Interpretation, when employed as
a self-reflexive methodology for disclosing the meaning of human events, is generally
termed hermeneutics. Before discussing the particular hermeneutic methodology
employed, a brief definition of hermeneutic research, and justification of its employment is
necessary.
Hermeneutics is an umbrella term referring to a wide range of theories and practices
united by a common concern with the interpretive understanding ofthe meaning of human
symbolic productions. The narrower area of hermeneutic inquiry most germane to this
research is methodological hermeneutics, which is concerned with the epistemological
issue of extending knowledge production within the human sciences beyond the narrow
confines of traditional scientific method (Woolfolk et al., 1988). The discipline of
psychology, traditionally wedded to natural scientific philosophies and methodologies, has
gradually become interested in devising alternative qualitative methods relevant to the