Ian has certainly presented an interesting and creative case for the use/role of qualitative methods in social science research. Frankly, I'm quite surprised by the small number of comments. In previous discussions, it always seemed as though there were hundreds of fingers hovering just above the "send" button waiting for the chance to bring this issue up! Well, let me take the discussion a slightly different direction to see if this triggers any twitching fingers.
It's been my observation that the field has had a slight "obsession" with methodology in the last few years with people worrying a great deal about using the "right" methods within the "right" paradigm (and also worrying about being labeled something other than a constructivist). At the risk of being tarred and feathered by the general research community, I feel the best outcome of good research is not the results based on a certain methodology, but a greater clarity and understanding of what the question ought to be and the generation of a few good other questions. In fact, I don't think we spend enough time worrying what it takes for someone to get to a point where s/he knows an area well enough to ask good questions.
To illustrate this, there's a good story about Einstein soon after he published his Special Theory of Relativity. He was a very young man and easily blended in with the university students. At one faculty/student reception, a graduate student who didn't know him asked him what he was studying. "Physics," Einstein replied. The graduate student then said with an air of authority, "Yes, I had that last semester." Similarly, research to me has always been more about the study I was planning than those I had finished. I my humble opinion, educational research is inherently an imperfect "science." There is simply no way to balance all of the complex variables present in such a complicated thing as "human learning" to design one study that is beyond reproach. The best research will continually remain open to criticism. The best you can do is ask some good questions, then gather and interpret some evidence (data) to give you (and the research community) better insight to the problem. This leads to more research. Even if the results of a particular study (the answers) are disappointing, you will definitely walk away from the experience with a better understanding of the question.
I've tried to keep this note brief, so pardon my oversimplifications. Don't interpret my words as suggesting that methods and results don't matter and don't see them as an excuse to do sloppy research. All I want to suggest is that we shift the emphasis back to where it truly belongs--on asking good questions.
Remember, count to 10 before clicking "send"....