John O'Shaughnessy is Professor Emeritus at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University and formerly Senior Associate at the Judge Institute, Cambridge University and is the author or co-author of fourteen books on business topics, including Persuastion in Advertising and The Undermining of Beliefs in the Autonomy and Rationality of Consumers, also published by Routledge.

• Preface. 1. Interpretation and Methodology. 2. Interpretation and Perspectivism. 3. The Interpretive Stance in the Study of Human Behavior. 4. Interpretation and Concepts. 5. Interpretation of Effects (Causes). 6. Interpretation of a Problematic Situation (Abduction). 7. Interpretation of Words, Symbols and Behavior (Text Hermeneutics). 8. Artifact Interpretation. Notes. Index.

"Finally an authoritative book that places marketing research firmly within a comprehensive social science framework by recognising the centrality of social relationships and the dynamics of the inter-personal, of perspective, and of meaning-making in a phenomenal world. Professor O’Shaughnessy draws the topic into a rich applied focus and careful reading of this book will reward by inspiring and catalysing valuable research in the field, thus opening the minds of students and researchers alike"Dr Richard J Varey, Professor of Marketing at The Waikato Management School, New Zealand