University of Tampere

FinlandWhat are Quantitative and Qualitative Research

Anyway?Discussion

Pertti AlasuutariUniversity of Tampere

Department of Sociology and Social Psychology

University of Tampere

Finland

Scientistic and Humanistic Approaches

• Origins of empirical social research in the Enlightenment idea of rational governance aided by scientific research of society– Randomized controlled trials of

reforms– The survey as a quasi-experimental

design

University of Tampere

Finland

Scientistic and Humanistic Approaches

• There was also a humanistic approach early on in sociology– the late 19th century Methodenstreit,

“method battle” in Max Weber’s time – in the 1930s United States a clash between

symbolic interactionism and positivistic scientism of William F. Ogburn, George Lundberg and Reed Bain

University of Tampere

Finland

Scientistic and Humanistic Approaches

• The tension did not necessarily divide people into two camps– For instance Paul Lazarsfeld, a key figure in

American quantitative social research, was also interested qualitative analysis

– Robert K. Merton, another developer of survey methodology at Columbia University, also developed the focused interview

• Theorists have been liberal toward different methods, which they see as just producing food for thought for theory-building

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From Theorists to Qualitative Researchers

• ’Qualitative research’ evolved from an increased interest in social theory– ”Qualitative research” was a product of the 1960s

critique of positivism– E.g. according to Payne et al. 2004, in Britain an

increase in qualitative papers is due to a decline of non-empirical papers

– A study about articles published in the major Finnish sociology journal Sosiologia from 1964 to 2004 (Räsänen et al. 2005) show that qualitative research has grown at the expense of theoretical articles

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Finland

Conclusion

• The increased proportion of qualitative papers is an indication of social science becoming more empirically based

• ’Qualitative research’ carries on one aspect of sociological research, interpretation of evidence– Practices described as part of qualitative

research process are part of all social research