This chapter offers several models of ways that scholars can usefully integrate qualitative and quantitative research in both single works and broader research programs: using qualitative methods to identify constructs or hypotheses that can subsequently be examined in quantitative studies; using quantitative studies to identify patterns that can be explored in qualitative work; and, quantification of qualitative data. Through this analysis, I call into question existing characterizations of the relationships among the two types of research and offer a more nuanced portrayal of the links between them. I suggest that the advantage of mixed methods studies is that they recognize the value of iterating between that which can be counted and that which cannot in order to generate richer insights about the phenomena of interest.
Mixing Quantitative and Qualitative Research, in Handbook of Innovative Qualitative Research Methods: Pathways to Cool Ideas and Interesting Papers, Kimberly Elsbach and Roderick Kramer, eds. 2015.
