Systems analysis, project management, and evaluation: are quantitative methods enough ?

Important aspects of good systems analysis and evaluation are frequently considered "soft" or "unscientific" because they are neither quantitative nor quantifiable. However, system requirements can be determined and system impacts assessed on a sound, scientific basis by combining quantitative and qualitative methods. This approach goes beyond the usual interviewing of a few key users, and documenting of such quantitative features as work flow, amount of data handled, timing of reports, speed of information retrieval, and cost-benefit ratios.