Complementary Methods Research

Complementary methods refers to the use of more than one method when a researcher seeks illustration, clarification, or elaboration about research findings. Complementary methods research permits curriculum studies researchers to use quantitative and qualitative methods in the same study as needed to garner deeper insights. This class of methods entered in the educational research community landscape in the late 1980s when Richard Jaeger published his textbook, Complementary Methods for Research in Education, under the auspices of the American Educational Research Association. This book was based upon a series of audiotapes in which a committee of researchers concerned about the overreliance of quantitative methods and their dominance in research publications sought to make a greater set of resources about methodological inquiry available to graduate students and ...