ABSTRACT
The proper methodology to employ for cultural analysis (CA) has been much debated, as the normal canons for the conduct of scientific enquiry seem inappropriate or in need of complementary techniques. Thus, it is argued that CA has a different methodology from the ordinary conduct of scientific enquiry: formulation of hypotheses, data gathering and tests. The question becomes, then: How different is CA? If scientific enquiry in the natural sciences is labelled ‘positivism’, then one may rephrase the question as follows: Is there any space for positivism in CA? If the core methodology of CA is not positivism but hermeneutics, then how are hypotheses tested in CA?
