This article discusses some theoretical and methodological questions pertaining to qualitative reception research. There is a need to problematize both the gathering of reception data, which is mostly a business of interviewing techniques, as well as the data analysis. Concerning the latter it is necessary to develop systematic methods for analysing interview transcripts. Underlying methodological considerations are theoretical assumptions about the reception process, about verbal communication and about the general, specific or social nature of the phenomena studied. The article presents a method for studying viewers' reception in a cognitive perspective. Theoretical and methodological considerations in each phase of a study, that is, the interview phase, the analysis phase and the result phase, are discussed.
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