Is multi-method research really "Better"?

Recent scholarship in political science attests to the rapid proliferation of approaches engaged in multi-method research (MMR), research that employs two or more methods selected from an array of qualitative, quantitative, and formal methods typically used in the social sciences. The general notion that different types of methods can be employed to advance or test a particular theory is not in itself new. Multi-method approaches have long been a feature of social science research, taken up usually out of necessity (e.g. Jick 1979). Where data conducive to one method was not available, scholars would turn to another in order to fill the gap.