Theories of causation in philosophy ask what makes causal claims true and establish the so-called truth conditions allowing one to separate causal from noncausal relationships. We argue that social scientists should be aware of truth conditions of causal claims because they imply which method of causal inference can establish whether a specific…

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…

Within mixed methods research, a key issue is how to mix qualitative and quantitative research orientations. Similar debates arise within a mixed method called Q methodology [Q] that has an 80-year history and strong qualitative leanings. Q is often identified with the sorting of statements and the factor analysis (grouping) of people with similar…

The complexity of educational issues underscores the need for rigorous inquiry, whose findings are to drive appropriate reforms. There have been long-standing debates among scholars on which of the qualitative and quantitative methods is more rigorous in contributing towards shaping education. While some scholars believe that since education deals…

By distinguishing between a survey and--a newly introduced term--a "probe," we recast the relationship between qualitative and quantitative approaches to social science. The difference turns on the "uniformity" of the phenomenon being examined. Uniformity is a fundamental idea underlying all scientific research but is rarely…

There is a germane relationship between qualitative and quantitative approaches to social science research. The relationship is empirically and theoretically demonstrated by poverty researchers. The study of poverty, as argued in this article, is a study of both numbers and contextualities. This article provides a general overview of qualitative…

One purpose of the present paper is to elaborate 4 general advantages of the mixed methods approach. Another purpose is to propose a 5-phase evaluation design, and to demonstrate its usefulness for mixed methods research. The account is limited to research on groups in need of treatment, i.e., vulnerable groups, and the advantages of mixed methods…

This article briefly chronicles the development of mixed methods research and its use in social work. We then move onto a discussion of terms and designs, reasons for (and for not) using mixed methods. Drawing upon exemplars, we address how to write up a mixed methods study when (1) the sample is single; single for one part, with a subset for the…

Contradictory trends emerge relative to Black women's college success: They have doubled their enrollment rates in thirty years but their graduation rates remain behind those of White and Asian women. This integrative, interdisciplinary review of both student- and institutional-level factors explores the role of individual characteristics and…

In this paper, the writer discusses the philosophical underpinnings of the two dominant research methods in social sciences; quantitative and qualitative paradigms. The natures of two paradigms are quite different so this leads many researchers to discuss these issues in a comparative way. This paper tackles the knowledge and understanding of…

Clear, coherent and trusted, this book is the perfect guide to the main social research methods in use today. The much anticipated Third Edition of Clive Seale's bestselling title further expands its coverage to provide an authoritative introduction to all of the social research methods used to analyze qualitative and quantitative data. Written by…

Planning, conducting, and reporting leading-edge research requires professionals who are capable of highly skilled reading. This study reports the development of an empirically informed computer-based learning environment designed to foster the acquisition of reading comprehension strategies that mediate expertise in the social sciences. Empirical…