Fighting or mixing: quantitative and qualitative research

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the age-old debate in the social sciences about the primacy of methods and the relationship of our pioneers to one of the main ideological battles blighting disciplines such as sociology. Every researcher makes a conscious decision to adopt a qualitative or quantitative method in their social enquiry, or sometimes to even mix them both, and it would have been extremely unusual for the pioneers not to engage sometimes with the oppressive responsibility to pick a 'side'. The chapter explores the extremes in this debate, as well as less-entrenched positions that advocate a middle-ground approach.