When Does a Researcher Choose a Quantitative, Qualitative, or Mixed Research Approach?

Abstract

In educational studies, the paradigm war over quantitative and qualitative research approaches has raged for more than half a century. The focus in the late twentieth century was on the distinction between the two approaches, and the motivation was to retain one of the approaches’ supremacy. Since the early twenty-first century, there has been a growing interest in situating in the middle position and combining both approaches into a single study or a series of studies. Despite these signs of progress, when it comes to using the appropriate research approach at the right time, beginner educational researchers remain perplexed. This paper, therefore, provides useful guidelines that facilitate the choice of quantitative, qualitative, or mixed research approaches in educational inquiry. To achieve this objective, this article comprises three distinct and underlying areas of interest, which have been structured into three sections. The first section highlights the distinctions between quantitative and qualitative research approaches. The second section discusses the paradigm views that underpin the choice of a particular research approach. Finally, an effort has been made to determine the appropriate time to opt for any of the research approaches that facilitate successful educational investigations. Since truth and the means used to discover it are both dynamic, it is also essential to foresight innovative approaches to research with distinguishing features of applications to educational research.