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titus_hjelm 's review for:
Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches
by J. David Creswell, John W. Creswell
I read the second edition that had been languishing on my shelves for years, so not all the comments may apply.
I understand why this is the standard textbook on the topic. It is very thorough with its examples, exercises and checklists. Yet... My first thought was that it tries to do too much. Research design and methods are different things and discussing the former especially suffers from trying to cram in the latter as well. The two are related, of course, but presenting research design as a matter of method choice will, I would say, miss the point about research design, and confuse the student reader. All the relevant points of design (question, data, etc.) are covered, but putting together a design is often messier and rarely led by choice of method.
At least this edition also has a very American feel. I appreciate that Cresswell mentions action research, even though there must be a lot of resistance to it. Weirder still is the lingering sense that qualitative methods are not quite as appropriate as quantitative ones. The author says that this is changing, but does not really address why it is a completely silly proposition in the first place. There are good bits here, but I would like to see a book on research design that takes apart the elements (question, data, method, etc.) and the process without trying to teach methods at the same time.
I understand why this is the standard textbook on the topic. It is very thorough with its examples, exercises and checklists. Yet... My first thought was that it tries to do too much. Research design and methods are different things and discussing the former especially suffers from trying to cram in the latter as well. The two are related, of course, but presenting research design as a matter of method choice will, I would say, miss the point about research design, and confuse the student reader. All the relevant points of design (question, data, etc.) are covered, but putting together a design is often messier and rarely led by choice of method.
At least this edition also has a very American feel. I appreciate that Cresswell mentions action research, even though there must be a lot of resistance to it. Weirder still is the lingering sense that qualitative methods are not quite as appropriate as quantitative ones. The author says that this is changing, but does not really address why it is a completely silly proposition in the first place. There are good bits here, but I would like to see a book on research design that takes apart the elements (question, data, method, etc.) and the process without trying to teach methods at the same time.