This paper argues that there are no generic methods in academic research that can be categorized in terms like quantitative or qualitative. Each different area of research uses a distinctive combination of methods, theories, and tools in which these methods, theories, and tools have been customized to work together. Grouping every area that uses…

This reflective commentary on the character and role of methodology in educational and social inquiry recounts my 45-year journey as an applied researcher and evaluator, primarily in the domain of education. The journey starts in graduate school in the early 1970s, where the methodological challenge was to master "the proper methods, properly…