qualitative research

[Joelle Lyons Everett]

Thanks for this interesting discussion.

I believe that one reason for the lack of quantitative research on OST is
that people who really like quantifying things are off doing something more
readily quantifiable!

It's difficult to do rigorous quantifiable research in a complex and open
system--there are so many variables that it is difficult to control for them,
or even to know what they all are.

I suspect that is why social science has moved more in the direction of
"action research"--develop a hypothesis, try your ideas in an organization
and see what happens, modify your approach and try it out again.  Data and
viable methods are gradually developed from that experience, but it is
difficult to quantify the process according to the rigorous research
standards of the "hard sciences."

Where a science like modern medicine meets an art like meeting facilitation,
it may be difficult for either side to provide the kind of data the other is
looking for.  I appreciate the efforts that some have made to collect and
preserve data and organize it into a form that might better communicate
across disciplines!  Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Joelle Everett

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