Causaliteit en de methodestrijd

Naar een geïntegreerd gebruik van kwalitatief en kwantitatief onderzoek in een praktisch georiënteerde criminologie

authors Ben Heylen
  Erik Weber
journal Panopticon (ISSN: 771-1409)
volume Jaargang | Volume 34
issue Issue 2. March / April 2013
section Artikel | Article
publicatie datum 7 mars 2013
langue Dutch
pagina 115
keywords (in)compatibility thesis, process causality, mechanistic causality, probabilistic causality, mechanistische causaliteit, (in)compatibiliteitsthesis, comparatieve causaliteit, mixed methods, procescausaliteit
abstract

Causality and the “battle of the methods”
In this article, we re-examine an old problem in criminology, i.e. the “battle of the methods”. Even though the battle has become less explicit recently, it does have a contemporary counterpart named the incompatibility thesis in the field of mixed methods research in the social sciences. We look at this incompatibility thesis from the point of view of philosophy of science, more precisely by discussing different forms of causality. Subsequently, comparative causality, process theories of causality and mechanistic causality are discussed. We argue that qualitative and quantitative methods each pursue a specific kind of knowledge, but that a functional integration of both is desirable. We conclude by referring to two main advantages of such integration, viz. the manipulation of causal relationships and extrapolation of research results in time and space.

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