Spór metodologiczny czy spór koncepcji – badania ilościowe vs jakościowe
Methodological or theoretical framework controversy – qualitative versus quantitative research

Summary/Abstract: This article compares and contrasts some aspects of qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The question is: how does a researcher select a research paradigm and corresponding methodology? Is this choice a consequence of the nature or essence of the social phenomena being investigated? The researcher’s thinking style is probably a key factor for the preferred choice of methods. The strengths and weaknesses of qualitative and quantitative research are a perennial and hot themes of debate, especially in psychology. Much of this debate has tended to obfuscate rather than clarify the problem, and to divide rather than unite researchers. Is this the inter-paradigm debate or is it a dispute between competing paradigms? Quantitative purists express assumptions that are consistent with positivist philosophy, whereas qualitative purists reject positivism. However, the major question remains: What is the goal of investigation? The final section of the paper advocates a “pragmatic approach” as a new guiding paradigm and as a basis for supporting work that combines qualitative and quantitative methods.

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