The optimization of the development of quantitative instruments is a key concern in any social science endeavor. Whilst instrument development has been for many years restricted to mono-method approaches, a new era has come that combines qualitative techniques to enhance the development of quantitative instruments. This approach constitutes one of the main rationales of conducting mixed method studies which in political science research, in contrast to the adjacent social science disciplines, has been scarcely applied. The paper’s rationale is two-fold; a) to review the three-phase exploratory design for the optimization of the development of quantitative instruments via qualitative techniques and b) to present the main benefits and challenges of the approach for political science research. Instrument development via qualitative techniques applies an inductive-deductive and an emic-etic perspective that increases construct-related validity in cross-sectional political science studies and eliminates construct bias in cross-national and cross-cultural ones. The paper’s main thesis is that the mixed method approach is not the panacea of all research inquiries. However, the optimization of quantitative instrument development via qualitative techniques may adequately serve mixed method’s fundamental principal, i.e., maximizing the potency and minimizing the weaknesses derived from the amalgamation of the two methods to enhance the validity of political studies’ conclusions.
