Joseph A Maxwell
Biographic Data
| ID | 120605 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Joseph A Maxwell |
| GIVEN NAMES | Joseph A |
| FAMILY NAME | Maxwell |
| SIGNATURE | MAXWELL J A |
| AFFILIATIONS | George Mason University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8653-2045 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 428 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1978 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Response to David Morgan on Triangulation
Why qualitative methods are necessary for generalization
The importance of qualitative research for investigating causation
The Value of Qualitative Inquiry for Public Policy
This article focuses on public policies and programs as a major component of the "public sphere," and argues that qualitative inquiry can make uniquely valuable contributions to their development and evaluation. These contributions include understanding (a) how people interpret and respond to such policies, (b) contextual variability and its effects on the implementation and consequences of these policies, and (c) the processes through which poli…
Distinguishing Between Quantitative and Qualitative Research: A Response to Morgan
This is a response to Morgan’s article ( Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 12(3), 268-279) on the qualitative/quantitative distinction. I argue that Morgan has mischaracterized my views on this distinction, and on the value of design typologies in mixed methods research, and that the qualitative/quantitative distinction is more productively framed on a different basis than the one he proposed
Expanding Thinking Through a Kaleidoscopic Look Into the Future: Implications of the Mixed Methods International Research Association’s Task Force Report on the Future of Mixed Methods
The field of mixed methods research abounds with opportunities for creative development in terms of methodological advances and potential to contribute to important and complex societal problems. Inspired by issues that arose in the Mixed Methods International Research Association task force report on the future of mixed methods, this article contemplates its implications for challenges and opportunities for the mixed methods community for advanc…
Qualitative Research
Qualitative Research Design
Expanding the History and Range of Mixed Methods Research
Presentations of the history and range of mixed methods research presented in textbooks, handbooks, and journal articles have typically ignored a great deal of earlier and contemporary research that integrated qualitative and quantitative approaches, but did not explicitly identify itself as "mixed methods." This article reviews earlier research, in both the natural and social sciences, that clearly integrated qualitative and quantitative approac…
The Importance of Qualitative Research for Causal Explanation in Education
The concept of causation has long been controversial in qualitative research, and many qualitative researchers have rejected causal explanation as incompatible with an interpretivist or constructivist approach. This rejection conflates causation with the positivist theory of causation, and ignores an alternative understanding of causation, variously known as a "generative," "process," or "realist" approach, which is influential in philosophy and …
Realism as a Stance for Mixed Methods Research
Using Numbers in Qualitative Research
The use of numerical/quantitative data in qualitative research studies and reports has been controversial. Prominent qualitative researchers such as Howard Becker and Martyn Hammersley have supported the inclusion of what Becker called "quasi-statistics": simple counts of things to make statements such as "some," "usually," and "most" more precise. However, others have resisted such uses, particularly when they are requested by reviewers for jour…
Designing a Qualitative Study
Traditionally, works on research design (most of which focus on quantitative research) have understood “design ” in one of two ways. Some take designs to be fixed, standard arrangements of research conditions and methods that have their own coherence and logic, as possible answers to the question, “What research design are you using? ” (e.g., Campbell & Stanley, 1967). For example, a randomized, double-blind experiment is one research design; an …
Qualitative Research Methods for Evaluating Computer Information Systems
Literature Reviews of, and for, Educational Research: A Commentary on Boote and Beile’s “Scholars Before Researchers”
n their article Scholars Before Researchers: On the Centrality of the Dissertation Review in Research Preparation (Educational Researcher, August/September 2005), David N. Boote and Penny Beile argue that the literature review is the fundamental task of dissertation and research preparation. They claim that doctoral students receive minimal formal training, and little guidance from faculty or published sources, in how to analyze and synthesize re…
Causal Explanation, Qualitative Research, and Scientific Inquiry in Education
A National Research Council report, Scientific Research in Education, has elicited considerable criticism from the education research community, but this criticism has not focused on a key assumption of the report-its Humean, regularity conception of causality. It is argued that this conception, which also underlies other arguments for "scientifically-based research," is narrow and philosophically outdated, and leads to a misrepresentation of the…
Using Qualitative Methods for Causal Explanation
The view that qualitative research methods can be used to identify causal relationships and develop causal explanations is now accepted by a significant number of both qualitative and quantitative researchers. However, this view is still controversial, and a comprehensive justification for this position has never been presented. This article presents such a justification, addressing both recent philosophical developments that support this positio…
Reemergent Scientism, Postmodernism, and Dialogue Across Differences
The reemergence of a narrowly defined "scientifically based research" that marginalizes qualitative approaches represents a major threat to qualitative research. A postmodern perspective not only challenges this essentialist definition of "science" but also critiques tendencies of qualitative researchers to essentialize proponents of "science". These arguments raise the issue of dialogue across the differences between researchers working in diffe…
The Art of Fieldwork. Harry F. Wolcott
Understanding and Validity in Qualitative Research
Qualitative researchers rely — implicitly or explicitly — on a variety of understandings and corresponding types of validity in the process of describing, interpreting,and explaining phenomena of interest. In this article, Joseph Maxwell makes explicit this process by defining five types of understanding and validity commonly used in qualitative research. After discussing the nature of validity in qualitative research,the author details the philo…
The Evolution of Plains Indian Kin Terminologies: A Non-Reflectionist Account
The striking similarity in basic terminological pattern among Plains tribes, and the absence of this pattern elsewhere in North America, is not accounted for by existing general theories of the evolution of kin terminologies. The development of this pattern is explained here in terms of a theory which abandons the assumption that terminological patterns are reflections of social structure. It is argued that the basic process in this development w…
Causal Explanation, Qualitative Research, and Scientific Inquiry in Education
A National Research Council report, Scientific Research in Education, has elicited considerable criticism from the education research community, but this criticism has not focused on a key assumption of the report-its Humean, regularity conception of causality. It is argued that this conception, which also underlies other arguments for "scientifically-based research," is narrow and philosophically outdated, and leads to a misrepresentation of the…
Using Numbers in Qualitative Research
The use of numerical/quantitative data in qualitative research studies and reports has been controversial. Prominent qualitative researchers such as Howard Becker and Martyn Hammersley have supported the inclusion of what Becker called "quasi-statistics": simple counts of things to make statements such as "some," "usually," and "most" more precise. However, others have resisted such uses, particularly when they are requested by reviewers for jour…
Using Qualitative Methods for Causal Explanation
The view that qualitative research methods can be used to identify causal relationships and develop causal explanations is now accepted by a significant number of both qualitative and quantitative researchers. However, this view is still controversial, and a comprehensive justification for this position has never been presented. This article presents such a justification, addressing both recent philosophical developments that support this positio…
Expanding the History and Range of Mixed Methods Research
Presentations of the history and range of mixed methods research presented in textbooks, handbooks, and journal articles have typically ignored a great deal of earlier and contemporary research that integrated qualitative and quantitative approaches, but did not explicitly identify itself as "mixed methods." This article reviews earlier research, in both the natural and social sciences, that clearly integrated qualitative and quantitative approac…
The Importance of Qualitative Research for Causal Explanation in Education
The concept of causation has long been controversial in qualitative research, and many qualitative researchers have rejected causal explanation as incompatible with an interpretivist or constructivist approach. This rejection conflates causation with the positivist theory of causation, and ignores an alternative understanding of causation, variously known as a "generative," "process," or "realist" approach, which is influential in philosophy and …
Expanding Thinking Through a Kaleidoscopic Look Into the Future: Implications of the Mixed Methods International Research Association’s Task Force Report on the Future of Mixed Methods
The field of mixed methods research abounds with opportunities for creative development in terms of methodological advances and potential to contribute to important and complex societal problems. Inspired by issues that arose in the Mixed Methods International Research Association task force report on the future of mixed methods, this article contemplates its implications for challenges and opportunities for the mixed methods community for advanc…
Reemergent Scientism, Postmodernism, and Dialogue Across Differences
The reemergence of a narrowly defined "scientifically based research" that marginalizes qualitative approaches represents a major threat to qualitative research. A postmodern perspective not only challenges this essentialist definition of "science" but also critiques tendencies of qualitative researchers to essentialize proponents of "science". These arguments raise the issue of dialogue across the differences between researchers working in diffe…
The Value of Qualitative Inquiry for Public Policy
This article focuses on public policies and programs as a major component of the "public sphere," and argues that qualitative inquiry can make uniquely valuable contributions to their development and evaluation. These contributions include understanding (a) how people interpret and respond to such policies, (b) contextual variability and its effects on the implementation and consequences of these policies, and (c) the processes through which poli…
Literature Reviews of, and for, Educational Research: A Commentary on Boote and Beile’s “Scholars Before Researchers”
n their article Scholars Before Researchers: On the Centrality of the Dissertation Review in Research Preparation (Educational Researcher, August/September 2005), David N. Boote and Penny Beile argue that the literature review is the fundamental task of dissertation and research preparation. They claim that doctoral students receive minimal formal training, and little guidance from faculty or published sources, in how to analyze and synthesize re…
Distinguishing Between Quantitative and Qualitative Research: A Response to Morgan
This is a response to Morgan’s article ( Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 12(3), 268-279) on the qualitative/quantitative distinction. I argue that Morgan has mischaracterized my views on this distinction, and on the value of design typologies in mixed methods research, and that the qualitative/quantitative distinction is more productively framed on a different basis than the one he proposed
Response to David Morgan on Triangulation
The Evolution of Plains Indian Kin Terminologies: A Non-Reflectionist Account
The striking similarity in basic terminological pattern among Plains tribes, and the absence of this pattern elsewhere in North America, is not accounted for by existing general theories of the evolution of kin terminologies. The development of this pattern is explained here in terms of a theory which abandons the assumption that terminological patterns are reflections of social structure. It is argued that the basic process in this development w…
The Evolution of Plains Indian Kin Terminologies: A Non-Reflectionist Account
The striking similarity in basic terminological pattern among Plains tribes, and the absence of this pattern elsewhere in North America, is not accounted for by existing general theories of the evolution of kin terminologies. The development of this pattern is explained here in terms of a theory which abandons the assumption that terminological patterns are reflections of social structure. It is argued that the basic process in this development w…
Understanding and Validity in Qualitative Research
Qualitative researchers rely — implicitly or explicitly — on a variety of understandings and corresponding types of validity in the process of describing, interpreting,and explaining phenomena of interest. In this article, Joseph Maxwell makes explicit this process by defining five types of understanding and validity commonly used in qualitative research. After discussing the nature of validity in qualitative research,the author details the philo…
The Art of Fieldwork. Harry F. Wolcott
Causal Explanation, Qualitative Research, and Scientific Inquiry in Education
A National Research Council report, Scientific Research in Education, has elicited considerable criticism from the education research community, but this criticism has not focused on a key assumption of the report-its Humean, regularity conception of causality. It is argued that this conception, which also underlies other arguments for "scientifically-based research," is narrow and philosophically outdated, and leads to a misrepresentation of the…
Using Qualitative Methods for Causal Explanation
The view that qualitative research methods can be used to identify causal relationships and develop causal explanations is now accepted by a significant number of both qualitative and quantitative researchers. However, this view is still controversial, and a comprehensive justification for this position has never been presented. This article presents such a justification, addressing both recent philosophical developments that support this positio…
Reemergent Scientism, Postmodernism, and Dialogue Across Differences
The reemergence of a narrowly defined "scientifically based research" that marginalizes qualitative approaches represents a major threat to qualitative research. A postmodern perspective not only challenges this essentialist definition of "science" but also critiques tendencies of qualitative researchers to essentialize proponents of "science". These arguments raise the issue of dialogue across the differences between researchers working in diffe…
Qualitative Research Methods for Evaluating Computer Information Systems
Literature Reviews of, and for, Educational Research: A Commentary on Boote and Beile’s “Scholars Before Researchers”
n their article Scholars Before Researchers: On the Centrality of the Dissertation Review in Research Preparation (Educational Researcher, August/September 2005), David N. Boote and Penny Beile argue that the literature review is the fundamental task of dissertation and research preparation. They claim that doctoral students receive minimal formal training, and little guidance from faculty or published sources, in how to analyze and synthesize re…
Designing a Qualitative Study
Traditionally, works on research design (most of which focus on quantitative research) have understood “design ” in one of two ways. Some take designs to be fixed, standard arrangements of research conditions and methods that have their own coherence and logic, as possible answers to the question, “What research design are you using? ” (e.g., Campbell & Stanley, 1967). For example, a randomized, double-blind experiment is one research design; an …
Realism as a Stance for Mixed Methods Research
Using Numbers in Qualitative Research
The use of numerical/quantitative data in qualitative research studies and reports has been controversial. Prominent qualitative researchers such as Howard Becker and Martyn Hammersley have supported the inclusion of what Becker called "quasi-statistics": simple counts of things to make statements such as "some," "usually," and "most" more precise. However, others have resisted such uses, particularly when they are requested by reviewers for jour…
The Importance of Qualitative Research for Causal Explanation in Education
The concept of causation has long been controversial in qualitative research, and many qualitative researchers have rejected causal explanation as incompatible with an interpretivist or constructivist approach. This rejection conflates causation with the positivist theory of causation, and ignores an alternative understanding of causation, variously known as a "generative," "process," or "realist" approach, which is influential in philosophy and …
Qualitative Research
Qualitative Research Design
Expanding the History and Range of Mixed Methods Research
Presentations of the history and range of mixed methods research presented in textbooks, handbooks, and journal articles have typically ignored a great deal of earlier and contemporary research that integrated qualitative and quantitative approaches, but did not explicitly identify itself as "mixed methods." This article reviews earlier research, in both the natural and social sciences, that clearly integrated qualitative and quantitative approac…
Expanding Thinking Through a Kaleidoscopic Look Into the Future: Implications of the Mixed Methods International Research Association’s Task Force Report on the Future of Mixed Methods
The field of mixed methods research abounds with opportunities for creative development in terms of methodological advances and potential to contribute to important and complex societal problems. Inspired by issues that arose in the Mixed Methods International Research Association task force report on the future of mixed methods, this article contemplates its implications for challenges and opportunities for the mixed methods community for advanc…
Distinguishing Between Quantitative and Qualitative Research: A Response to Morgan
This is a response to Morgan’s article ( Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 12(3), 268-279) on the qualitative/quantitative distinction. I argue that Morgan has mischaracterized my views on this distinction, and on the value of design typologies in mixed methods research, and that the qualitative/quantitative distinction is more productively framed on a different basis than the one he proposed
The Value of Qualitative Inquiry for Public Policy
This article focuses on public policies and programs as a major component of the "public sphere," and argues that qualitative inquiry can make uniquely valuable contributions to their development and evaluation. These contributions include understanding (a) how people interpret and respond to such policies, (b) contextual variability and its effects on the implementation and consequences of these policies, and (c) the processes through which poli…
Why qualitative methods are necessary for generalization
The importance of qualitative research for investigating causation
Response to David Morgan on Triangulation
Sociology (14 works) · Computer Science (12 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Social science (9 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Qualitative research (8 works) · Evaluation and Performance Assessment (7 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Qualitative Research Methods and Applications (5 works) · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics (5 works)