For Research Methods: Practical Strategies for combining qualitative and quantitative methods

General Points

• two reasons why its hard to combine qual and quant methods: its a technical problem, and there is a conflict between paradigms in their combination
• He says combining the two is essentially like fact checking, you look to see if you get the same conclusions twice
• This demonstrates that your results are not simply due to the invalidity of a particular method: mixed methods actually strengthens your argument for each

Research Designs on Complementary Assistance:

• there is a "division of labor" in using the complementary strengths of qual and quant methods
• There are two decisions to be made: which method is the priority (for us qual) and which comes first in the design (for us quant)
• The complementary method assists the principal method
• he says "qualitative projects can be supplemented by the strengths that quantitative methods offer"
• Initial small-scale quant methods guides decision that the researcher makes to the bigger qualitative research
• Our preliminary questionnaire provides context for understanding our sample and "help to focus the analysis of large amounts of qualitative data
• This process is frequently used by anthropologists

Morgan, D. (1998). Practical strategies for combining qualitative and quantitative methods: Applications to health research. Qualitative Health Research, 8(3), 362-376.

(Morgan, 1998)

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