Formalising Methods

• I'm still quite sceptical about qualitative methods as methods.
• They seem like ways of formalising quite ad hoc procedures.
• I think there are some benefits to formalising these procedues.
• Others have an idea of what you are talking about.
• You can take advantage of best practice.
• People can write papers and books about their new research method.
• On the other hand, I think it's a bit misleading to call them methods.
• They're really just frameworks for exploring ideas.
• I think the qualitative stuff (and advocates) imply that quantitative people are not creative, and this damages really solid work.
• Figuring out how things work is a really creative process.
• Hypothesis formation, test development, and theory formation are all really creative.
• I'd argue that Einstein was more creative than Bach.
• Qualitative frameworks might help explore the area; that's great.
• However, they seem to have real problems with developing solid support for ideas.