Revista Scientific Volumen 3 / Nº 7 - Febrero-Abril 2018 | Page 14

“From our perspective, the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods may be appropriate for any research paradigm. In fact, questions of method are secondary to those of paradigm, which we define as the basic belief system or worldview that guides the researcher and not only to choose the methods, but in ways that are ontological and epistemologically fundamental”. The theme of methodological complementarity goes through the dilemma of the absence of basic epistemological foundation to approach reality. McMillan and Schumacher (2005: 128-129), point out that quantitative research is based on some form of logical positivism that seeks to establish how things are by avoiding value judgments; while qualitative research is based on constructionism, which seeks to explain how people come to describe, explain or give an account of the world where they live. These two traditions are often seen as antagonistic and without possibilities for discussion or cooperation. The proposal of complementarity between the two paradigms can be considered as a valid option in research; because each one of the methodologies makes important contributions to the construction of knowledge. Its rigid use, without doubts, impoverishes the process of searching for new knowledge, by preventing the incorporation into the investigative process of the benefits that each of them possesses and prevents reaching more interesting findings. The possibilities of complementation can be based on the principles of consistency and dialectical unity. The quantitative in its hypothetico-deductive logic contributes to the process the explanation and the relation of cause and effect. In turn, the qualitative with its inductive-deductive understanding goes into the complex paths of construction and decoding of meanings of human subjectivity, which considers the individual and the group, as a result of the 13 Editorial Guba and Lincoln (2002: 113), state: