Why It Works: Using Qualitative Methods in Economic Education Research

Overview & Synopsis

The authors of this article present arguments for why and how qualitative research should be used in economic education. These arguments recognize the nature of economics as a discipline and economics educators' current expertise and preferences. The authors have five goals: (i) clarifying how and why the use of qualitative research in economic education fits in with economics as a discipline; (ii) identifying practical limitations of quantitative research in economic education; (iii) reviewing the limited literature on qualitative research in economic education; (iv) proposing how qualitative and quantitative methods can be combined in a mixed methods approach that recognizes the methodological assumptions of economics and the expertise of economists, and finally, (v) suggesting characteristics of systematic and rigorous qualitative research in economic education.