DocumentCode :
3143019
Title :
Qualitative vs. quantitative: myths of the culture and practical experience
Author :
Thomas, John C.
Author_Institution :
IBM Thomas J. Watson Res. Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA
fYear :
2001
fDate :
6-6 Jan. 2001
Abstract :
In the "Western" cultures of business and science, there is an interesting and arguably irrational belief that quantitative measures are in all cases superior to qualitative measures. The consequences of this belief are more than an epistemological curiosity; the resulting over-reliance on quantitative measurement and undervaluation of qualitative reasoning can be measured in the tens of millions and tens of billions of dollars. The author argues that a "science of qualities" can help guide researchers and practitioners in a wide variety of fields to make, record, share, and compare observations that are, under some circumstances, as reliable, as valid, and possibly much more appropriate than purely quantitative measures.
Keywords :
common-sense reasoning; epistemological curiosity; qualitative measures; qualitative reasoning; quantitative measures; science of qualities; Digital arithmetic; Drives; Humans; Immune system; Knowledge management; Mathematics; Multidimensional systems; Volume measurement;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
System Sciences, 2001. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Hawaii International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Maui, HI, USA
Print_ISBN :
0-7695-0981-9
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/HICSS.2001.926548
Filename :
926548
Link To Document :
بازگشت