ABSTRACT
I am focusing this chapter primarily on qualitative research, because this is the approach with which I have the most experience, and one in which the development and use of theory has been quite different from quantitative research. However, I have taught both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and I think much of what I have to say is relevant to quantitative as well as qualitative research, as well as to mixed-methods research (which combines quantitative and qualitative theories, approaches, and methods). Later in this chapter, I discuss a study that employed both qualitative and quantitative methods, in order to illustrate the differing approaches to, and uses of, theory in qualitative and quantitative research.
