Research Methods in Literary Reception Studies

Turning reading into research: Researching literature through its reception.

• First methods-focused handbook in the field
• Strongly practical and suitable for advanced teaching
• Bridging qualitative and quantitative research
• For advanced students and early-career researchers

Research Methods in Literary Reception Studies is the first handbook to offer a systematic, hands-on guide to the study of literary reception. It shows how scholars can examine readers’ responses to literature, as well as how texts are evaluated, discussed, rewarded, and circulated across social and institutional settings. By combining empirical, sociological, digital, and text-focused approaches, the book offers clear guidance on research design, data collection, and analysis. Each chapter offers step-by-step methodological instructions and illustrates these through a concrete case study. Integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches, and written for advanced students and researchers, this handbook provides a comprehensive methodological toolbox for studying literature as a cultural practice.

"Research Methods in Literary Reception Studies" was written by Elke Brems, Jan Ceuppens, Jos Joosten, Dennis Kersten, Maaike Koffeman, Alicia C. Montoya, Julia Neugarten, Esther Op de Beek, Bea Ros, Helleke van den Braber, Usha Wilbers and Aukje van Hout.

Elke Brems is hoogleraar vertaalwetenschap en Nederlandse taal & cultuur aan de KU Leuven.

"Research Methods in Literary Reception Studies" was edited by Jeroen Dera, Anne Oerlemans and Frederik Van Dam.

Jeroen Dera is Associate Professor of Dutch Literature at Radboud University.

Anne Oerlemans works as a publisher and obtained her PhD from Radboud University in 2026.

Frederik Van Dam is Assistant Professor of European Literature at Radboud University.

Yes, "Research Methods in Literary Reception Studies" is published Open Access. It is available under a BY-NC-ND license.

Publication of "Research Methods in Literary Reception Studies" was funded by KU Leuven Fund for Fair Open Access
Radboud University
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Chapter 1. Introduction
Jeroen Dera, Anne Oerlemans and Frederik Van Dam

PART I. EMPIRICAL METHODS

Chapter 2. Designing Self-Completion Questionnaires in Literary Reception Research
Jeroen Dera

Chapter 3. Using Interviews in Literary Reception Research
Jeroen Dera

Chapter 4. Using Focus Groups in Literary Reception Research
Helleke van den Braber

Chapter 5. Analysing Elicitation Data in Literary Reception Research
Jeroen Dera and Helleke van den Braber

PART II. SOCIOLOGICAL METHODS

Chapter 6. Field Theory: Researching and Mapping the Literary Field
Anne Oerlemans

Chapter 7. Posture Analysis
Jos Joosten

Chapter 8. Material Analysis and Book History Methods
Alicia C. Montoya

PART III. DIGITAL METHODS

Chapter 9. Literary Evaluation and Argumentation Analysis
Esther Op de Beek and Bea Ros

Chapter 10. Computer-Assisted Qualitative Analysis
Dennis Kersten and Usha Wilbers

Chapter 11. Computational Analysis: Fanfiction as Literary Reception
Julia Neugarten

Chapter 12. Corpus Analysis: Distant Reading Digitized Periodicals
Maaike Koffeman

PART IV. TEXT-FOCUSED METHODS

Chapter 13. Literary Discourse Analysis
Aukje van Hout

Chapter 14. Close Reading and Reception Studies
Frederik Van Dam

Chapter 15. Translation as Reception
Elke Brems and Jan Ceuppens

Glossary
Contributors

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for "Research Methods in Literary Reception Studies" is 10.11116/9789461667656.