This article critically reviews the growing literature on foreign aid and political conditionality from a research methods perspective. It focuses on assessing the gap between recent methodological developments and current research practices, with the aim of identifying promising strategies and overcoming pervasive problems. The work is divided into three main sections. The first section maps out the different approaches conventionally used in aid and conditionality research. The second points out pervasive issues and proposes solutions by building on recent advances in social science methodology, including Goertz and Mahoney’s (2012) Tales of Two Cultures: Qualitative and Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences. The third explores whether a mixed methods strategy can actually help researchers bridge the apparent qualitative and quantitative divide.
