Multiple readings of ‘metaphor’: designing a methodology of investigation

Abstract

This article aims to introduce and discuss epistemologically the design of a research methodology on the process for interpreting metaphors in literay texts in the interface with the product, i.e., their multiple readings. The research motivation, from the beginning, was investigating what ‘metaphor’ really means to the ‘empirical reader’, thus contributing to elucidate the social and cognitive processes that may occur during its interpretation. The methodology adopted is qualitative, with an interpretive orientation. The main method, whose construction process is the major focus of this paper, is Group-Think Aloud, which is derived from an adaptation of the Verbal Protocol. This method is associated with diaries and interviews, to enable the triangulation of data. To investigate whether there is variation in the processes and readings of ’metaphor’, it became necessary to generate data with various groups of readers, thus constituting a collective case study as research strategy. This methodological design falls within the interpretive paradigm, whose epistemology is that of dialogism.