<p>The traditional qualitative–quantitative debate in Political Science often overlooks a deeper question: how students’ individual dispositions shape their methodological preferences. We argue that personality traits may influence whether students are drawn to methodologically structured versus unstructured approaches, transcending formal training and moderating its effects. Using survey data from 1763 students of Political Science and related sub-disciplines at 24 universities across six Western Balkan countries (2023–2024), we examine how personality traits predict students’ methodological orientations. Our findings indicate that certain traits are indeed associated with preferences for methodological structure, but these effects are rarely dichotomous. In many cases, the same traits predict engagement with both structured and unstructured approaches, suggesting that students do not perceive qualitative and quantitative methods as inherently opposed, but as complementary ways of studying politics. This highlights that the core distinction in students’ orientations may lie in the degree of methodological structuring rather than the traditional qualitative–quantitative divide. These results have implications for curriculum design and teaching. By understanding the personality-driven variation in methodological preferences, program administrators and instructors can better tailor research methods courses to accommodate diverse epistemological orientations, making them engaging, constructive, and relevant. Our study contributes to political science education research by linking individual differences to methodological orientation and by providing empirical evidence from an underrepresented regional context, offering insights for designing curricula that reflect both disciplinary goals and students’ cognitive dispositions.</p>