The use of numerical/quantitative data in qualitative research studies and reports has been controversial. Prominent qualitative researchers such as Howard Becker and Martyn Hammersley have supported the inclusion of what Becker called "quasi-statistics": simple counts of things to make statements such as "some," "usually," and "most" more…

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to describe a design that mixes single-case (sometimes referred to as single-subject) and qualitative methods, hereafter referred to as a single-case mixed methods design (SCD-MM). Minimal attention has been given to the topic of applying qualitative methods to SCD work in the literature. These two…

Combining diverse methods in a single study raises a problem: What should be done when the findings of one method of investigation conflict with those of another? We illustrate this problem using an example in which three study phases--quantitative, qualitative, and intervention--were applied. The findings coming from the quantitative phase did…

Combining diverse methods in a single study raises a problem: What should be done when the findings of one method of investigation conflict with those of another? The authors illustrate this problem using an example in which three study phases--quantitative, qualitative, and intervention--are applied. The findings from the quantitative phase did…

During the last 15 years, there has been a steady increase in the popularity and sophistication of the confirmatory factor analysis approach to multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) data. However, important problems exist, the most serious being the ill-defined solutions that plague MTMM studies and the assumption that so-called method factors primarily…

Applications of the confirmatory factor analysis block-diagonal model to published data on 18 multitrait-multimethod matrices were reviewed to show widespread estimation problems. Possible causes of estimation difficulties were explored using computer simulations. These problems make the block-diagonal approach less useful than has generally been…

Three multitrait-multimethod studies are described, which indicated that ill-defined solutions were frequent, and alternative parameterizations tended only to mask this problem. Moreover, method factors sometimes represented trait variance as opposed to method variance. However, specification of method effects as correlated uniqueness proved more…

Results of a reanalysis of previously published data (B. M. Byrne, 1989) support the correlated uniqueness model, diagnostic tests of the validity of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), multitrait multimethod (MTMM) solutions, inclusion of external validity in MTMM design, and application of factorial invariance to test stability of CFA-MTMM…

Quality assurance and evaluation research, like other fields of social research and its application, are confronted with a series of problems. In the present paper, I want first to give a list of such problems, although necessarily incomplete. It is then claimed that while there is no "perfect" solution to these problems, critical multiplism may…

A beverage-server intervention project at two West Coast Navy bases that attempted to reduce levels of alcoholic intoxication via policy changes and server training is described. Data obtained via interviews and structured observations of 1,511 club customers indicate methodological bias and self-selection effects. Bias adjustments were performed…

The advantages of applying confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) data are widely recognized. However, because CFA as traditionally applied to MTMM data incorporates single indicators of each scale (i.e., each trait/method combination), important weaknesses are the failure to: (1) correct appropriately for measurement…