Beyond the Qualitative-Quantitative Antinomy: The Intersubjective Foundations of Psychological Science

The distinction between a subjective interior (mind) and an objective exterior (body) plays a central role in stimulating the antinomy between quantitative and quantitative methods. Because they are said to draw on objective observations, quantitative methods provide ways to identify general statistical relations between variables. Because they rely on interpretive analyses of experience, qualitative methods are often seen as less scientific than quantitative ones. However, the distinction between quantitative and qualitative methods is founded on a false dichotomy between subjectivity and objectivity. What we call “objective” observations of behavior cannot occur independent of already shared knowledge about “subjective” or hidden experiences. Conversely, we cannot identify “subjective” experience without words that have their origins in public expressions. What we call “objective” and “subjective” are each derived from a prior capacity for intersubjective engagement. From an intersubjective framework, the distinction between qualitative and quantitative methodology fades.