Less marketing and more scholarship.

Misunderstandings of the relative merits of qualitative and quantitative research have been encouraged by an either--or framing of the domain. Seven interrelated reasons for this either-oring are suggested, including focusing on method rather than purpose, different beliefs about how and if knowledge can be acquired, confusing the creation of ideas with their testing, misunderstandings of science, cognitive biases, a marketing rather than scholarly approach to knowledge development, and goals and contingencies that compete with sound scholarship. Less marketing and more scholarship are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]