14. Beyond the quant and qual divide

This chapter looks at the supposed divide between quantitative and qualitative methods in the social sciences and humanities. The rise of digital data is supposed to disrupt these entrenched categories, but this chapter examines why this division has proven so sticky – appropriately using a mix of quantitative and qualitative techniques. It investigates the emergence of these terms and how they gained their present meanings and tells the story of how these different methods became linked to different academic identities (positivist and interpretivist). After reviewing attempts to synthesise the two approaches, including mixed methods and more recent quali-quantitative methods, the chapter argues that we should think of research not as the application of methods but as the search for which method(s) (quantitative or qualitative) are appropriate for our objects and problems.