Donna Mertens clarifies qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods and integrates the perspectives of various research paradigms into descriptions of the above methods.

It discusses four key scientific paradigms: the post-positivist, the constructivist, the transformative, and the pragmatic. Emphasis is also placed on conducting research within culturally complex communities, based on feminist approaches, as well as the approaches of national and racial minorities and individuals with disabilities.

(. . .) [Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]