Research Methods
There are over 50 different research methods. Can one method be chosen over all others?
A verbal war has been waged about which should be the single best research method. Quite recently, the debate centred on a possible hierarchy of better and lesser methods. However, progress in scientific research and teaching does not benefit from a method competition or hierarchy. Such progress can only be guaranteed by choosing a method that can provide the best answer to the specific question. That is exactly what research is all about: finding an answer to a question. The reason that more than 50 research methods do exist is that researchers ask many different types of questions. Some questions can better be answered through the use of surveys, others by doing an experiment, and yet other questions are best solved by conducting interviews. The methods used in scientific research to find the answer to a question should be systematic and checkable.