Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Methods
A Pragmatic Approach
- David L. Morgan - Portland State University, USA
A practical guide to designing mixed methods research in social science research courses; it goes beyond “how-to” and shows “why-to use”
Mixed Methods Research
“Key strengths are clarity of presentation, functional focus, limited technical treatment, practical examples, compact length, emphasis on research design, and the chapter on Pragmatism, which is [a] great way around the paradigm debates that often color the use [of] mixed methods.”
“The research examples are very clear and will help students scope and develop their dissertation designs. . . . A second major strength is the emphasis on examples from program interventions and policy evaluation. This alone makes this text a good alternative textbook in program evaluation.”
“Figures are very clear, discussion of pragmatism is thorough, and the writing style is clear and accessible.”
Although I found some interesting ideas within this book I thought it would not engaging enough for students and that some of the terminology was unfortunately not accessible enough for the level of learning.
Committee decision
An interesting and welcome outline of practical approaches to making use of both quantitative and qualitative methods. It is nice to see an integrative approach. This would be well suited to masters level study of methods.
Again, I have not had the time to digest this, but superficially it looks good.
This is an excellent book that gives a very clear discussion on what mixed-method research is, drawing upon leading authors works on this subject.
I found this book a little complex for undergraduate students but it is a sound supplementary resource for students studying mixed methods research at Masters level.
The text is clearly laid out with good use of diagrams and examples. However, more emphasis could be made early on, of the importance of the research question/aim in the research design and justification. Although in the conclusions of chapters 1 & 2, the requirment of a meaningful question is mentioned, it was not dealt with in sufficient depth. The risk is that students will continue to select a method before developing a clear question/aim. Nevertheless providing this is addressed elsewhere, it is a useful 'how to' text.
