Humanist Interpretation Versus Coding Text Samples

As a methodological package, sampling and coding in a systematic manner serve as a hallmark of rigor for research into bodies of textual evidence. In truth this widely approved bundle of methods comprises a counterproductive tool. Applying humanist interpretation to exemplary texts with the ideal-type approach of Max Weber is superior by major criteria for the conduct of science as conventionally understood. Interpretation in this tradition is more transparent and traceable, more exposed to retesting, and wiser about standards of representativeness.