When counting proved not to wash

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to question our faith in numbers. It asks how much credibility can numbers and quantification of data offer us as researchers? Design/methodology/approach – The research asked the question “Does gender matter?” in the case of banks lending to male and female business owners. To test this the bank loan officers were given an identical fictional bank loan proposal from either Jack or Emma Jones. It was assumed that the more positive statements made, the more likely there would be a positive decision to lend to either Jack or Emma. Findings – The main finding was that no link was found between the number of positive statements made and the final decision on whether or not to lend to either gender. While counting, we assume, injects precision into analysis, in this case it provided no support for the existence of a relationship between the numbers of positive statements and final decision on whether or not to lend. Some reasons are presented. Research limitations/implications – The paper features a small sample of 35 interviews. It would be interesting to see if this same finding is replicated in other studies of bank loan decision making using bank loan proposals and investigating the effect of gender on decisions. Originality/value – This research builds upon the 1993 research of Fay and Williams.