I am catching up on the abundance of messages in my mail-box.
The discussion on qualitative and quantitative methods and methodology
reminded me of the work of Solomon Marcus: Poetica Matematica (Bucuresti,
1970). Without going into a "thick description" of Marcus' work, I just
wanted to share one of its aspects which is central to this discussion.
Marcus distinguishes between four types of languages: musical, poetic,
everyday and scientific. These four types make a continuum in the
following way:
1. Musical language - is a pure expressive form; the form in musical
language is extremely precise while at the same time it expresses very
ambiguous and non-precise meanings.
2. Poetic language - is also very precise in form (almost like in music)
and at the same time its contents are a bit more articulated than in
music.
3. Everyday language - does not always have to be precise in form, but
its content is more determined than in the poetic language.
4. Finally in the scientific language the form is transparent, and the
content is very precise (categorical, numerical).
As Marcus says "poetic language is characterized by a total absence of
synonymity and infinite homonymity of any phrase, as opposed to the
scientific language where there is no homonymity and synonymity of any
phrase is infinite."
This may sound very abstract at the first glance but gives us some clues
(at least it gives me the clues) as to what are the continuous and what
discontinuous features of the two roughly defined approaches:
"qualitative" and "quantitative" methods.
What is interesting to me is the relationship between the content and the
form. When we talk about the qualitative and quantitative approaches or
methods we are talking about FORMS of description or expression of
certain meanings. We assume that the phenomena to which these meanings
and these forms refer are the same ones in all cases and argue as to what
form of the methodological approach is better or how to combine them. And
we still assume that we keep the phenomena constant (they are there, all
we have to do is go understand them). However, I think that the phenomena
are extremely sensitive to the forms of the methods we use to "work" on
them, and that in fact we MAKE these phenomena - at least partially - as
we proceed using this or that form of inquiry.
This is why I agree with Deborah Ann Hicks who wrote:
>>>>
<excerpt>But the distinction that I see Martin
drawing out goes much deeper than that. It would be something more
along
the lines of a certain kind of commitment, a certain type of valuing.
David, I don't know a thing about the computer programs you describe,
but surely there would be a difference between saying something like
"agent within a dynamic system" vs. writing/talking of THIS person in
THIS
particular historical context. Bakhtin (among others) would argue that
narrative captures historicity (important for Martin's work) and a
sense
of "moral particularity" -- that the value and meaning of actions and
persons for agents is deeply embedded in their particularity. So, for
Martin (and others of us), the choice of narrative modalities vis-a-vis
other types of modalities is not simply an instrumental one.
</excerpt><<<<<<<<
By choosing our instruments (or forms) we choose to make some realities
as opposed to other realities.
Ana
________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Ana Marjanovic-Shane
151 W. Tulpehocken St. City of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA 19144 OMH/MR - Research & Information
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(215) 843-2288 [fax] Philadelphia, PA 19107
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(215) 685-5581 [fax]
________________________________________________________________________
pshane who-is-at andromeda.rutgers.edu
anchi who-is-at geocities.com
http://www.geocities.com/~anchi/
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