Ten Years Of'Q-Squared': Are Two Disciplines Better than One?

Type Working Paper - Q-Squared Working Paper No
Title Ten Years Of'Q-Squared': Are Two Disciplines Better than One?
Author(s)
Volume 57
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2012
Page numbers 7
URL https://trentu.ca/ids/documents/Q2_WP57_Shaffer.pdf
Abstract
Over the past decade, there have been a number of initiatives to promote a more systematic
integration of 'quantitative' and 'qualitative', or 'Q-Squared', approaches to poverty analysis in
the Global South, and a large body of literature had emerged. The objective of the article is to
present a (selective) review of this empirical work with a view to determine 'if two disciples are
better than one.' Emphasis is placed on examples of value-added for understanding who are poor
(the Identification Stage) and why they are poor (the Causal Stage). The core conclusion is that
good examples of value added associated with Q2 approaches abound in the literature. The main
challenge in the years ahead is to maintain the momentum of the past decade in favor of mixed
method approaches.

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