Content area
Full Text
In organization and management studies, as in humanities and social sciences, we have witnessed over time several "turns": cognitive, linguistic, pragmatic, interactional and so on. One of the great importance for the birth of QROM was the "qualitative turn" in social research methodology.
Quantitative methods: no mainstream anymore ...
In the UK, in the last 20 years, we have observed a decline of survey-based research. As Payne et al. (2004) diagnosed "the dominant position on research methodology and methods among British sociologists has for many years been that of 'methodological pluralism'". However, concerns have lately been expressed about the lack of research involving quantitative methods, not least by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)" (p. 153).
Their study of four mainstream British journals (Sociology , British Journal of Sociology, Sociological Review and Sociological Research Online) over two years (1999 and 2000), together with associated sources, shows new national patterns of research methods used in published work. For example, the qualitative research is far greater than that quantitative (see tab. 2, p. 159); in addition the younger generation (junior staff) are more interested in qualitative methods (tab. 4, p. 161); finally "only about one in 20 of published papers in the mainstream journals uses quantitative analysis" (p. 161).
Later, in the first national survey of British undergraduate attitudes concerning the methodological character of the discipline and specifically in relation to quantitative methods, Williams et al. (2008) found that "most sociology students saw their subject as closer to the humanities than the sciences [...] many students expressed anxiety about quantitative methods and 'number' [...] a lack of student interest in the use of quantitative methods" (p. 1003). The authors conclude that "the views held by present undergraduates do not augur well for a methodologically pluralist discipline in the future, or more generally for key numeric and analytic skills sociology graduates can bring to other professions and occupations" (p. 1003).
Recently Erola et al. (2015) have compared methodological trends...