2009/06/20 by Pertti Alasuutari · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Social Science and Policy Research
paper · doi:10.1080/13645570902966056
openalex publication_date 2009/06/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The article discusses the development of social research in advanced economies and relates the rise of qualitative research to social changes. The paper suggests that partly, qualitative research emerged because some of the articles formerly classified as ‘non‐empirical’ or ‘theoretical’ gave way to an increasing share of articles classified as qualitative. In addition, the rise of qualitative inquiry meant that the everyday reality which produces statistical relationships between the variables of quantitative analysis is given more attention. Since the rise of qualitative research has primarily taken place at the expense of non‐empirical or theoretical rather than quantitative articles, one can argue that it has contributed to an overall systematization of social research. Overall, qualitative inquiry simply carries on one aspect of social science, the mission to study ‘the social body,’ the practices that make up social institutions and produce the regularities reflected in statistical relations.