ABSTRACT
This chapter is on the interpretation of effects for which causes are sought. A broader understanding of people is made possible by the investigation of causes. As Fay (1987) says, interpretive theory will not serve all our purposes. This is because we are often interested in how various causal factors contribute to the rise of certain meanings for the individual and also because there can be unintended consequences caused by our actions of which we are unaware. Fay argues that self-understandings and actions can be at variance while interpretive procedures have failed to come to grips with social change and structural confl ict in society.1
