ABSTRACT

Many have questioned whether the contrast between qualitative and quantitative research is a particularly constructive one, arguing that the best research in social science contains elements of both. Nonetheless of all the methodological distinctions that have been concocted, it is the quantitative/ qualitative one which has proved most durable and which, to be fair, most accurately reflects the customary division of practice in social science. The intention of this chapter is not to argue that qualitative research is necessarily superior to quantitative approaches-it is for some problems but not for others-but to indicate some of the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative methods and lay some of the groundwork for the chapters on case studies and qualitative interviewing which follow.