Hermeneutics and phenomenology are described as two related holistic methods currently used in qualitative research in social and health sciences. The two terms are combined in usage – hermeneutic phenomenology or interpretive phenomenology (given that hermeneutics is a Geisteswissenschaft of interpretation) – and researchers who apply them invariably claim that the philosophical foundations of what they do are justified through the ground-breaking works of German philosophers Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer (the latter was a student of the former).