ONE-WAY TO BRIDGE THE 2 CULTURES - ADVANCING QUALITATIVE GERONTOLOGY THROUGH PROFESSIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

North American gerontology has largely been shaped by the theories and methods of bio-medical researchers and social scientists. Among other things, this has meant that ''qualitative' approaches in research on aging have been of secondary importance. Scholars do not always mean t he same thing by the term. This essay cannot resolve all of the paradi gmatic issues that separate ''hard'' and 'soft'' science, but it does propose that researchers take a more self-critical, even autobiographi cal, orientation to making sense of their own aging careers.