Qualitative Content Analysis in Educational Studies on Literary Learning: The Challenge of Comprehending Comprehension

Abstract

Qualitative content analysis in reception studies, especially in the context of empirical research in literary learning, faces a double hermeneutic challenge. In this article, we address this challenge by providing guidelines to choose appropriate context units and modify the types of category-building provided by standard introductions to qualitative content analysis. The categories are adapted to the needs of literary reception researchers by differentiating between strictly formal and theory-based formal categories, both of which are frequently applied in literary reception studies in order to reconstruct either processes or underlying dispositions.