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Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaof a complex whole into its parts, while synthesis may be regarded as theconstruction of a whole out of parts. By means of analysis the constituentvariables or factors that are relevant to the understanding of a phenomenon oran event, are isolated. By means of synthesis the relationships between thesevariables are reconstructed to provide an insight into the causal factorsassociated with the events or factors being studied.In this chapter we shall use the term interpretation rather than synthesis toemphasize the interpretative dimension of explanation in the social sciences.How does analysis and interpretation occur? It would also be possible to askthe same question as follows: How are data systematized in a meaningfulmanner by means of analysis and interpretation? Basically, there are twoanswers that may be offered to these questions which involves a deductive andan inductive strategy respectively.(i)In the deductive strategy the researcher embarks upon a research projectwith a clear conceptual framework in mind. This may be a model, atheory, or a typology or a set of explicit hypotheses. A framework of thisnature leads to a relatively rigid manner of conceptualization, operationalization,and data collection, and it will ultimately constitute the frame ofreference for analysis and interpretation. As we indicated in Chapter 2,this type of strategy is typical especially in hypothesis testing and inexplanatory studies.(ii) In the inductive strategy, the researcher would embark upon the projectwithout an explicit conceptual framework, and merely use general andvague hypotheses or guesses to guide the research. Research of thisnature is far less structured. Once the data have been generated, theresearcher attempts to discover relationships or patterns by means ofclose scrutiny of the data. The data are analyzed and interpreted by meansof inductive abstraction and generalization. The eventual result is thatsuch a strategy will result in a more systematic explanation or even aconceptual framework such as a typology. It should be clear that theinductive strategy is particularly appropriate to hypothesis-generatingstudies or to studies of an exploratory and descriptive nature.One should, nonetheless, not conclude on the basis of the preceding paragraphsthat these two strategies are mutually exclusive. There are numerous examplesof studies where a combination of these strategies are used. It is, for example,possible that a researcher starts out using the inductive approach and generatesnew hypotheses in the process. Once such hypotheses have been formulated,the researcher can proceed with a testing of the hypotheses (deductiveapproach).If one were to analyze the Reiger Park study, it is clear that the researchersused a more deductive strategy. The explicit point of departure for the studywas to use Smelser’s theory of collective behaviour as an explanatory frame-103