Chapter 1: Improving Rigor in Service-Learning Research

Traditionally, rigor in research has focused on the high quality execution of a specific method, like a randomized controlled trial or an in-depth case study. This chapter offers a framework for rigor that builds on traditional attention to rigorous procedures while emphasizing greater attention to rigorous thinking and elevates the unit of analysis from the individual study to considering the cumulative and integrated rigor of research in the entire field of service-learning. That framework focuses on how to generate high quality, credible, and useful knowledge to test theory and inform action through systematic triangulation across realms of inquiry and knowledge generation.