Hermeneutic analysis is a special type of content analysis where the researcher tries to ‘interpret’ the subjective meaning of a given text within its sociohistoric context. Unlike grounded theory or content analysis—which ignores the context and meaning of text documents during the coding process—hermeneutic analysis is a truly interpretive technique for analysing qualitative data. This method assumes that written texts narrate an author’s experience within a sociohistoric context, and should be interpreted as such within that context. Therefore, the researcher continually iterates between singular interpretation of the text (the part) and a holistic understanding of the context (the whole) to develop a fuller understanding of the phenomenon in its situated context, which German philosopher Martin Heidegger called the hermeneutic circle. The word hermeneutic (singular) refers to one particular method or strand of interpretation.
More generally, hermeneutics is the study of interpretation and the theory and practice of interpretation. Derived from religious studies and linguistics, traditional hermeneutics—such as biblical hermeneutics—refers to the interpretation of written texts, especially in the areas of literature, religion and law—such as the Bible. In the twentieth century, Heidegger suggested that a more direct, non-mediated, and authentic way of understanding social reality is to experience it, rather than simply observe it, and proposed philosophical hermeneutics, where the focus shifted from interpretation to existential understanding. Heidegger argued that texts are the means by which readers can not only read about an author’s experience, but also relive the author’s experiences. Contemporary or modern hermeneutics, developed by Heidegger’s students such as Hans-Georg Gadamer, further examined the limits of written texts for communicating social experiences, and went on to propose a framework of the interpretive process, encompassing all forms of communication, including written, verbal, and non-verbal, and exploring issues that restrict the communicative ability of written texts, such as presuppositions, language structures (e.g., grammar, syntax, etc.), and semiotics—the study of written signs such as symbolism, metaphor, analogy, and sarcasm. The term hermeneutics is sometimes used interchangeably and inaccurately with exegesis, which refers to the interpretation or critical explanation of written text only, and especially religious texts.
Finally, standard software programs, such as ATLAS.ti.5, NVivo, and QDA Miner, can be used to automate coding processes in qualitative research methods. These programs can quickly and efficiently organise, search, sort, and process large volumes of text data using user-defined rules. To guide such automated analysis, a coding schema should be created, specifying the keywords or codes to search for in the text, based on an initial manual examination of sample text data. The schema can be arranged in a hierarchical manner to organise codes into higher-order codes or constructs. The coding schema should be validated using a different sample of texts for accuracy and adequacy. However, if the coding schema is biased or incorrect, the resulting analysis of the entire population of texts may be flawed and non-interpretable. However, software programs cannot decipher the meaning behind certain words or phrases or the context within which these words or phrases are used—such sarcasm or metaphors—which may lead to significant misinterpretation in large scale qualitative analysis.
