Do Two Research Cultures Imply Two Scientific Paradigms?

Abstract

In A Tale of Two Cultures, Gary Goertz and James Mahoney (2012) seek to describe two distinct social science cultures: “quantitative” and “qualitative.” Cultural differences such as these often provide an excuse for groups to retreat to separate sides, to wallow in in-group solidarity, and to prepare for a long and stubborn dispute instead of seeking compromise and agreement. Goertz and Mahoney profess no desire to start a civil war in the social sciences. They are, they tell us, merely anthropologists who have encountered the “Quant” and the “Qual” tribes and who want to catalog their distinctive characteristics. In doing so, they want to make sure that both groups get the respect they deserve for their cultural uniqueness. After a few preliminary chapters, Goertz and Mahoney march through 14 chapters that present contrasting observations on how the Quants and the Quals search for causal relationships, explicate and measure concepts, and undertake research design. The chapters are all relatively short. Each one briskly and pithily illustrates, as in a 19th-century travel book cataloging the oddities of remarkably different groups in far off lands, the differences between the Quants and the Quals. Because they find the Quants and the Quals to be different, Goertz and Mahoney conclude “there is no set of principles that unifies all social scientific work” (chap. 17, p. 220). The two cultures are different, and each should be allowed to thrive on its own terms, although “there is room for dialogue between the quantitative and qualitative paradigms” (p. 220). And “If we allow for some division of labor and the possibility of mixing the two cultures, we arrive at a pluralistic vision of social science” (p. 226).