I understand that it's a method that ascribes purposes to things. I have heard people speak very highly and lowly of it. On the one hand people say it has greater explanatory power than cause and effect. On the other, it assumes purpose in a meaningless universe. So which is it? Is it a good framework?
It is most definitely not a good framework. It reverses cause and effect which is completely backwards to how reality works. To say that the outcome determines the process and not the other way around is incompatible with a materialist outlook and frankly a form of superstitious thinking. Purpose is an abstract and subjective notion that only exists in the mind. It is something that people assign to things or actions, not something that can exist independently of an intelligence to ascribe it. Teleology is just another way of postulating the existence of an intelligent designer. It is an attempt to disguise a religious belief as philosophy.