Qualitative methods in planning research and practice

Long standing discussion on whether qualilative or quantitative methods better inform planning research and/or practice are not likely to be definitively resolved in the near future. This paper does not attempt such a resolution. What is recognized here is the difference, in approach to research and the use of information, between the social sciences and planning and the implications these have for selection and use of methods. Some of the positions on both sides of the quantitative/qualitative divide are highlighted. The more recent rationale (and reservations) for using qualitative and/or mixed method approaches are reviewed. The virtue of looking of qualitative and quantitative methods as ranged in a continuum of less to more empirically driven approaches is suggested. To highlight the contributions that qualitative methods or mixed-method approaches make to planning theory and practice, some successful approaches are outlined and categorized by their approach to data.