PURPOSE This book advances a framework, a process, and compositional approaches for designing qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research in the human and social sciences. Increased interest in and use of qualitative research, the emergence of mixed methods approaches, and continuing use of the traditional forms of quantitative designs have created a need for this book’s unique comparison of the three approaches to inquiry. This comparison begins with preliminary consideration of philosophical assumptions for all three approaches, a review of the literature, an assessment of the use of theory in research designs, and reflections about the importance of writing and ethics in scholarly inquiry. The book then addresses the key elements of the process of research: writing an introduction, stating a purpose for the study, identifying research questions and hypotheses, and advancing methods and procedures for data collection and analysis. At each step in this process, the reader is taken through qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. The cover illustration depicts a mandala, a Hindu or Buddhist symbol of the universe. Creation of a mandala, much like creation of a research design, requires looking from the vantage point of a framework, an overall design, as well as focused attention on the detail—a mandala made of sand can take days to create because of the precise positioning of the pieces, which sometimes are individual grains of sand. The mandala also shows the interrelatedness of the parts of the whole, again reflecting research design, in which each element contributes to and influences the shape of a complete study. AUDIENCE This book is intended for graduate students and faculty who seek assistance in preparing a plan or proposal for a scholarly journal article, dissertation, or thesis. At a broader level, the book may be useful as both a reference book and a textbook for graduate courses in research methods. To best take advantage of the design features in this book, the reader needs a basic familiarity with qualitative and quantitative research; however, terms will be explained and defined and recommended strategies advanced for those needing introductory assistance in the design process. Highlighted terms in the text and a glossary of the terms at the back of the book provide a working language for understanding research. This book also is intended for a broad audience in the social and human sciences. Readers’ comments since the first edition indicate that individuals using the book come from many disciplines and fields. I hope that researchers in fields such as marketing, management, criminal justice, communication studies, psychology, sociology, K-12 education, higher and postsecondary education, nursing, health sciences, urban studies, family research, and other areas will find the third edition useful. FORMAT In each chapter, I share examples drawn from varied disciplines. These examples are drawn from books, journal articles, dissertation proposals, and dissertations. Though my primary specialization is in education and more broadly the social sciences, the illustrations are intended to be inclusive of the social and human sciences. They reflect issues in social justice and examples of studies with marginalized individuals in our society as well as the traditional samples and populations studied by social researchers. Inclusiveness also extends to methodological pluralism in research today, and the discussion incorporates alternative philosophical ideas, diverse modes of inquiry, and numerous procedures. This book is not a detailed method text; instead, I highlight the essential features of research design. I like to think that I have reduced research to its essential core ideas that researchers need to know to plan a thorough and thoughtful study. The coverage of research strategies of inquiry is limited to frequently used forms: surveys and experiments in quantitative research; phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory, case studies, and narrative research in qualitative research; and concurrent, sequential, and transformative designs in mixed methods research. Although students preparing a dissertation proposal should find this book helpful, topics related to the politics of presenting and negotiating a study with graduate committees are addressed thoroughly in other texts. Consistent with accepted conventions of scholarly writing, I have tried to eliminate any words or examples that convey a discriminatory (e.g., sexist or ethnic) orientation. Examples were selected to provide a full range of gender and cultural orientations. Favoritism also did not play into my use of qualitative and quantitative discussions: I have intentionally altered the order of qualitative and quantitative examples throughout the text. Readers should note that in the longer examples cited in this book, many references are made to other writings. Only the reference to the work I am using as an illustration will be cited, not the entire list of references embedded within any particular example. As with my earlier editions, I have maintained features to enhance the readability and understandability of the material: bullets to emphasize key points, numbered points to stress steps in a process, longer examples of complete passages with my annotations to highlight key research ideas that are being conveyed by the authors. In this third edition of the book, new features have been added in response to developments in research and reader feedback: • The philosophical assumptions in examining research and using theories are introduced earlier in the book as preliminary steps that researchers need to consider before they design their studies. • The discussion about ethical issues is expanded to include more considerations related to data collection and reporting research findings. • This edition includes, for the first time, an auxiliary CD with a complete PowerPoint slide presentation ready to use in the classroom, as well as sample activities and discussion questions. • New Web-based technologies for literature searches are incorporated, such as Google Scholar, ProQuest, and SurveyMonkey. • The chapter on mixed methods procedures has been extensively revised to include the latest ideas about this design. Recent articles from the Sage journal, the Journal of Mixed Methods Research, are included and cited. • The second edition’s chapter on definitions, limitations, and delimitations has been eliminated and the information incorporated into the chapters about reviewing the literature and the introduction to a proposal. Proposal developers today are including these ideas into other sections of a proposal. • This third edition contains a glossary of terms that beginning and more experienced researchers can use to understand the language of research. This is especially important with the evolving language of qualitative and mixed methods research. Throughout the text, terms are carefully defined. • I include in many chapters a delineation of research tips on different topics that have helped me advise students and faculty in research methods during the past 35 years. • The book contains updated references throughout and attention to new editions of works. • Features of the last edition are also maintained, such as • The overall structure of the book with the overlays of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research designs on the overall process and steps in the process of research • The key practical strategies of understanding the philosophical assumptions of research, tips on scholarly writing, conducting a literature map of the research, scripts in writing research purpose statements and questions, and the checklists for writing detailed procedures of conducting qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research • Each chapter ends with discussion questions and key references.

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