The concept of "qualitative analysis" in modem psychology combines many areas (for example, methods of phenomenological analysis, "reasonable theory", narrative and discourse analysis, psychoanalysis, etc.). How legitimate is it to talk about the conceptual unity of qualitative methods, originating from different and not all coinciding intellectual traditions of the XX century? The article argues for the theoretical thesis that the criterion "collecting" qualitative methods into a single methodology is the general logic of analysis, which lies at the intersection of art and science. Such expressive metaphors of qualitative analysis as book rereading, intellectual bricolage or choreography, often used in scientific literature, indicate the complexity of interpretative reconstruction of psychological realities. Dialectics of induction, deduction and abduction, implementing the hermeneutic circle principle, peculiarities of formulation of hypotheses (two types: preliminary (ex ante before the event) and special (ad hoc - for this case) allow us to draw the following conclusion: qualitative analysis is subject to intemal logic, which is reproduced in various research approaches. It is argued that the methodology of qualitative analysis embodies the postulates of philosophical hermeneutics (H. Gadarner, P. Ricceur) of modem psychology, which sets a variety of alternative ways of reading and interpreting the text. Such a situation corresponds to the definition of the method not as a unique algorithm, but as "optics settings", which is flexibly changed and refocused in accordance with the actual contexts, goals and objectives of the particular study. Of particular importance are the "philological sense" and critical reflection of discourse and language, mediating qualitative analysis. The final conclusion of this article is that qualitative analysis combines elements of scientific and artistic knowledge that fits into the "aesthetic paradigm" in psychology (the term of T.D. Martsinkovskaya). The results of the descriptive phenomenological analysis of in-depth interviews devoted to the study of ideas about the success and failure of Russian theatre and cinema artists serve as an empirical illustration to the methodological conclusions.
