Abstract
fields of study the selection of a question for examination determines the outcomes in a whole line of subsequent design decisions. But this is not the case in research on literary response. The intangible and elusive qualities of the phenomenonresponse to literaturerequire the use of a wide variety of investigative techniques. Thus, complex decisions about design become inevitable. The purpose of this paper is to investigate systematically several types of decisions that must be made in the process of designing a study of literary response, and to suggest some of the implications of the particular choices that are made.