ABSTRACT
Planners employ mixed method research strategies to get a big-picture answer to their research questions. These types of questions tend to require a mixture of quantitative and qualitative data slices. Mixed method research projects tend to either be dominant qualitative/less dominant quantitive or the reverse. Deciding when different methods are applied in a mixed method research project is largely a function of organizational constraints more than methodological requirements. Despite the growing use of mixed method investigation, a large number of critics are skeptical of it as a valid research strategy. Criticisms of different methods asking different questions piggybacks on the paradigmatic critique of mixed method research design· The issue is less a criticism of mixed method research strategies and more a criticism of specific mixed method research projects. Mixed method research design is particularly adept at dealing with very large and complicated investigations.
