The use of mixed methods – the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods in a single research study – has increased in visibility in recent years. In France, however, despite several empirical works that have used mixed methods, political scientists have largely overlooked methodological advances in the field, in particular the vast English-language literature on the subject of mixed methods. In this article, we shall outline the emergence of this important literature in order to present the advantages and limits of this approach for political science. We shall then propose a typology of eight mixed method research designs: contextualization, systematization, generalization, confirmation, enrichment, complexification, triangulation, and complementarity.