Psychology21 papers
LLMs in qualitative psychology
Emerging applications of large language models in qualitative psychological research methodology as well as the critics.
ES
Evgeny Smirnov
All Reviews
PsychologyMust Read
intermediate
Scaling hermeneutics: a guide to qualitative coding with LLMs for reflexive content analysis
Dunivin, Zackary Okun (2025)
- Published
- Apr 2, 2025
- Journal
- EPJ Data Science · Vol. 14 · No. 1
- DOI
- 10.1140/epjds/s13688-025-00548-8
At a GlanceAI
A hybrid workflow shows how LLMs can scale qualitative coding while retaining human-led reflexive interpretation.
SummaryAI
The paper addresses how researchers can use LLMs to code large qualitative datasets without reducing coding to purely mechanical classification. It proposes retaining human-led codebook development and refinement, then rewriting code definitions and using structured prompts so models can apply them more reliably. A socio-historical case study suggests frontier language models can interpret paragraph-length text, while the paper stresses ethical safeguards and researchers' continuing interpretive leadership.
Method SnapshotAI
A hybrid qualitative-coding workflow combines human codebook development with iterative prompt design and LLM-based text categorization.
BackgroundAI
Basic qualitative content analysis and familiarity with large language models are needed.
If you read one methods paper before coding with an LLM, read this one. It takes both the hermeneutics and the engineering seriously — a rare combination.
— ES