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CHAPTER 7PERSPECTIVES ON QUALITATIVE ANDQUANTITATIVE RESEARCHFree download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaINTRODUCTIONOf the many characteristics which people have attributed to the scientist, acritical and inquisitive attitude is probably the most noticeable. The scientistrefuses to accept things at face value — at least in his or her own field ofspecialization. It has been said while art is characterized by the suspension ofdisbelief, science is characterized by the suspension of belief (belief in thiscase implying a blind acceptance without any argument). This implies that thescientist will also adopt a critical and evaluative stance with regard to his or herown approaches and methods of work. It would, therefore, also necessarilyfollow that in the social sciences, where the boundaries are less clearly drawn(for example between them and the arts), where an unusually wide and diversespectrum of activities is included (ranging, for example, from philosophy at theone extreme to psycho-physiology at the other) one is likely to encounter acontinuous debate on the nature and essence of research.This debate is frequently characterized by a cyclic pattern in which issues thatwere heatedly debated at some time in the past, and which are left more or lesson their own for a period of time, may once again become the focus ofattention, resulting in further debate, analysis, and speculation. Some of thetypes of disputes and questions that frequently figure in discussions on researchmethodology in the social sciences are:• Is it possible to measure social phenomena?153