Empirical Methods in Literary Studies

Based on his extensive experiences in the empirical study of literary texts with an interdisciplinary team of psychologists and biologists at the University of Wroclaw, Wojciech Małecki discussed with the Narrative Encounters team how we can study the attitudinal impact of stories experimentally. Why Is empirical evidence Important in the study of literary texts? What methods are most appropriate for such studies? And what do we gain by using the method of controlled experiment to test the impact of stories on actual readers? These are some of the questions we addressed in the workshop.