ABSTRACT
In this chapter I want to challenge the widely held idea that there are two methodological paradigms in social research: the quantitative and the qualitative. This idea seems to have become a matter of consensus over the past few years among many who see themselves on one side of this divide or the other (and even amongst those who wish to sit astride it). I shall argue, however, that the distinction between qualitative and quantitative is of limited use and, indeed, carries some danger.
