In the light of recent theoretical and methodological advances Linking Data describes the ways in which substantive problems and research issues can be tackled effectively through the inter-relationship of quantitative and qualitative data. They also include a discussion of multi-method research which is critical of the naive assumption that using several different methods necessarily ensures the validity of research findings.

Author Biography

Nigel G. Fielding, BA (Sussex) MA (Kent) PhD (LSE), is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Surrey and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. His interests in research methodology include mixed methods, qualitative software, interview methods, field observation, and digitally mediated fieldwork. He has authored/edited 24 books, many in research methodology, most recently the second edition of the Handbook of online research methods (SAGE, 2017, with Grant Blank and Ray Lee). Jane Fielding gained her DPhil in Biochemistry in 1976 to be followed by postdoctoral fellowships at Queen Elizabeth College and Imperial College, University of London. She joined Surrey University in 1981 as a researcher on several part-time contracts in the departments of Sociology, Psychology and Human Biology. In 1984 she was appointed as the Departmental Research Fellow and has been involved with the teaching of computing and quantitative methods since that time. In 1994 she took up her current lectureship in quantitative methods and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2001.