Quantitative and qualitative methods and measures in the evaluation of research

David Roessner

Research Evaluation, 2000, vol. 9, issue 2, 125-132

Abstract: This paper proposes that the choice of quantitative versus qualitative measures in research evaluation is a false one, especially for evaluators isolated from the real world. This choice, sometimes substantially client-driven, should be tempered by professional judgment. It is sometimes easier to develop quantitative ‘indicators’ of performance than to work out what the program has to accomplish. As a result legislators and others increasingly ask public agencies for quantitative measures of research performance, and in so doing generate all kinds of mischief. Unfortunately, the fallacy of misplaced concreteness in research evaluation is still alive if not necessarily well. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Date: 2000
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