Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches

This bestselling text pioneered the comparison of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research design. For all three approaches, John W. Creswell and new co author J. David Creswell include a preliminary consideration of philosophical assumptions; key elements of the research process; a review of the literature; an assessment of the use of theory in research applications, and reflections about the importance of writing and ethics in scholarly inquiry.

New to this Edition

• Updated discussion on designing a proposal for a research project and on the steps in designing a research study.  
• Additional content on epistemological and ontological positioning in relation to the research question and chosen methodology and method. 
• Additional updates on the transformative worldview. 
• Expanded coverage on specific approaches such as case studies, participatory action research, and visual methods. 
• Additional information about social media, online qualitative methods, and mentoring and reflexivity in qualitative methods. 
• Incorporation of action research and program evaluation in mixed methods and coverage of the latest advances in the mixed methods field
• Additional coverage on qualitative and quantitative data analysis software in the respective methods chapters. 
• Additional information about causality and its relationship to statistics in quantitative methods. 
• Incorporation of writing discussion sections into each of the three methodologies. 
• Current references and additional readings are included in this new edition.

John W. Creswell, PhD, is a Professor of Family Medicine and Senior Research Scientist of

the Michigan Mixed Methods Program. He has authored numerous articles and 34 books on

mixed methods research, qualitative research, and research design. While at the University of

Nebraska–Lincoln, he held the Clifton Endowed Professor Chair, served as Director of the

Mixed Methods Research Office, co-founded SAGE’s Journal of Mixed Methods Research, and

was an Adjunct Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan and a consultant to

the Veterans Administration Health Services Research Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was

a Senior Fulbright Scholar to South Africa in 2008 and to Thailand in 2012. In 2011, he co-led

a National Institutes of Health working group on the “best practices of mixed methods research

in the health sciences,” served as a Visiting Professor at Harvard’s School of Public Health and

received an honorary doctorate from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. In 2014, he was

the founding President of the Mixed Methods International Research Association. In 2015, he

joined the staff of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan to Co-Direct the Michigan

Mixed Methods Program. In 2017, he coauthored the American Psychological Association

“standards” on qualitative and mixed methods research. The fourth edition of this book on

Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design won the 2018 McGuffey Longevity Award from the U.S.

Textbook & Academic Authors Association. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he gave virtual

keynote presentations to many countries from his office in Osaka, Japan. Updates on his work

can be found on his website at johnwcreswell.com.