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Although mixed methods research becomes increasingly popular, the issue that to what extent qualitative and quantitative research methods can be combined is insufficiently explored. To fill this gap, this critical literature review revisits the qualitative-quantitative debate between proponents and opponents of mixed methods research, examines the underlying philosophical assumptions held by two sides, and provides a new perspective to evaluate research combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. A brief review of the origin and development of mixed methods research is provided, followed by a presentation of the divergent opinions of proponents and opponents of mixed methods research and an illustration of why grounded theory, classified as a qualitative research method, can work well with quantitative studies. These ideas contribute to the conclusion rendered here: paradigmatic differences cannot be reduced to the simplistic duality of qualitative-quantitative debate, and the use of compatible paradigms is the key to mixing different research methods.

Despite the growth in numbers of Westerners in China, research focusing on this body of international migrants remains scarce. This article focuses on Chinese Occidentalism’s mundane manifestations by examining Americans’ experiences of everyday Otherness in China as an illuminating case. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with 37 Americans, this article elucidates how they experienced the perceived stereotyping manifested in fantasization, underestimation, and stigmatization during their interactions with ordinary Chinese people at the everyday level. The perceived stereotyping, triggered by Americans’ phenotype and nationality, was fabricated at the intersection of various factors in the Chinese context. Ultimately, these Americans experienced the perceived stereotyping as an exclusionary discourse of Othering that permanently confined them to the conceptual box marked “the foreign Other,” a blurry social construct contingent upon specific facets of Occidentalism in the Chinese context.