ABSTRACT
There is no well-defined subfield of interpretive analysis applied to quantitative data, so it is hard to define its contours. Several classic works about quantification and social data took an interpretive approach, and some studies of statistical institutions, especially censuses, contribute importantly to the field, even though the authors didn’t define themselves as interpretivist. Unlike in some fields, however, these works were not self-consciously written in conversation with each other. They did not engage in the kind of sectarian debates characteristic of development of new theories, nor were they chiefly concerned with cumulatively building a unified theory. In this chapter, I try to formulate an overarching interpretive theory of quantitative analysis, building on some classics and my own work.
