QUANTITY WITH QUALITY - TEACHING QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE METHODSIN AN LIS MASTERS PROGRAM

TO PREPARE FUTURE INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS for the rapidly changing e nvironment in which they will work, library and information science (L IS) educators have an obligation to ensure that their graduates unders tand, conceptually and pragmatically die major methodological paradigm s of research. Most LIS programs offer only a single course in researc h methods. Within that constraint, an important question is whether or not both qualitative and quantitative methods can be taught adequatel y. This article suggests that, by integrating the teaching of both qua ntitative and qualitative methods through ''between methods'' triangul ation, an adequate learning experience can be achieved. Such an approa ch allows students to explore research problems from multiple perspect ives and to evaluate critically the strengths and weaknesses of each m ethodology. The article discusses the need for such an integrated appr oach and suggests a scenario for applying it within the realm of a sin gle semester course.