Computer assisted qualitative analysis of religion

A new possibility for the analysis of religious phenomena comes from some innovative tools in terms of software like NVivo or Atlas-ti. In particular the use of Grounded Theory by Strauss and Glaser seems to be a research style that eliminates the presence of previous hypotheses and privileges an interpretive – as opposed to a hypothetic-deductive – approach to data analysis.

However a solution of mixed methods appears to be the best in order to control different perspectives and to compare diverse results. For instance the classical analysis of lexical correspondences and discourse analysis (namely DiscAn, invented by the Canadian Anthropologist Pierre Maranda) can be combined in order to have more suggestions for a purpose of theory building.   

But the presence of sensitizing concepts (according to Herbert Blumer) is appropriate to reach reliable interpretations of data.

An example will be presented: a research on Rome Jubilee pilgrims, interviewed through questionnaires and partial life histories.