QUANTITATIVE VERSUS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN ITS EPISTEMOLOGICALLY ONTOLOGICAL TENSIONS, ITS IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE TRENDS IN MANAGEMENT BRANCH OF SOCIAL SCIENCE UNDER THE DOGMA OF THE WESTERN BUSINESS SCHOOLS

Abstract

Management studies gained a significant place among the modem branches of social science, as there are more MBA degree holders globally than any other masters'. This branch of study has for many universities became �cash generators� sponsoring other disciplines of the social research. It is the prevailing dogma of the Western business schools, which due to the historical reasons, prefer quantitative positivist research over the field work of the ethnographers. Hegemony of statistics fuelled research however raises several questions and debates. What is the epistemologically-ontological benefit of quantitative studies? What was the reason for the current situation? Is the dominance of positivism to prevail in the future or are there any trends which may steer the trend towards more equally distributed research? This paper provides a critical discussion of the epistomotologicaly-ontological tensions in management studies and suggests the future trends and development.