Two cultures: Concepts, semantics, and variable transformations

This is the first in a series of essays that will appear in the QMMR section newsletter. They will typically continue the analysis Jim Mahoney and I started in our “Two Cultures: Contrasting Quantitative and Qualitative Research” article (2006). Sometimes the essay will contrast the two cultures; sometimes it will discuss practices that are unproblematic in one culture, but which appear contestable in the other. I request the indulgence of many members of the section; the view of “qualitative culture” presented here certainly does not speak for all members of the section. There is a wide diversity of views about what constitutes qualitative methods, those expressed here ultimately are my own about the practices of both qualitative and quantitative methods