Modern research in health, education and social sciences INTRODUCTION

Throughout its evolution, science has always vacillated between two fundamental aspects (its quantitative and its qualitative aspects). Specialists' concerns have moved cyclically from one aspect to the other. However, never has there been exclusive stress on either quantitative or qualitative issues. Even if an unequally, science have always taken into consideration both aspects, given that the psychological, social, medical, educational or organizational reality cannot be explained in a satisfactory manner by resorting exclusively to either quantitative or qualitative research. Unfortunately, no universally valid recipe for research in modern science has been discovered yet. In other words, it is difficult to determine exactly where the role of quantitative aspects ends and where the role of qualitative aspects begins. We wonder how much of the relevance of research is due to quantitative factors, to statistics and how much to qualitative, subjective interpretations? Or, equally well, we may wonder to what extent the objective conditions of assessing and carrying out successful research are backed by the flair and professional expertise of practitioners? If the last two decades of the previous century witnessed an undisputed prevalence of quantitative aspects in science, the beginning the new century seems to be showing a surprising return of qualitative research. More and more scientific events are devoted to qualitative aspects in the study of various fields.