mixed methods social science

 

Everett C. Hughes et le développement du travail de terrain en sociologie. Using mixed methods – Frameworks for an integrated methodology. Erasmus Centre for Economic Sociology (ECES), Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands, Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands, Erasmus Centre for Economic Sociology (ECES), Rotterdam and Centre européen de sociologie et de science politique de la Sorbonne (CESSP-CNRS-EHESS), Paris, France, You can also search for this author in In the final chapter of the Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social and Behavioral Research,Tashakkori and Teddlie (2003b) noted that they had found nearly 40 different types of mixed methods designs in the litera-ture. Mixed methods research (MMR) has gained traction in the social sciences, evolving as a genre of inquiry that intentionally and systematically connects qualitative and quantitative methods in order to address substantive questions. Mixed Methods Research "Mixed methods research is the type of research in which a researcher or team of researchers combines elements of qualitative and quantitative approaches (e.g., use of qualitative and quantitative viewpoints, data collection, analysis, inference techniques) for the purpose of breadth and depth of understanding and corroboration." 4. Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Glencoe, UK: Free Press. Using techniques from both traditions enables researchers to customize their approaches to studying the phenomenon of interest. (2003). 3, p. 213. 1933); see Brewer and Hunter (2006, p. xvi)—followed by an increasing emphasis on quantitative data and the objectification and standardization of methods. Second, we discuss sample size considerations and provide sample size recommendations for each of the major research designs for quantitative and qualitative approaches. Based on the discussion in this article and the contributions listed above, some tantalizing questions can be formulated. The sequential explanatory method employs two different data-collection time points; the quantitative data are collected first and the qualitative collected last. To get ahead of the discussion, these problems have to do with the framing of MMR as a distinct methodology and its specific conceptualization of data and methods of data analysis. 2018). The main battle here is also for scientific capital, but is complemented by the legitimacy it brings to gain access to those who are in power outside of the scientific field. This shift occurs first in journals in nursing studies, with journals in education studies following somewhat later. Greene, J. (1984). But it immediately raises the question: why stop there? In addition, general textbooks on social research methods and methodology now increasingly devote sections to the issue of combining methods (e.g., Creswell 2008; Nagy Hesse-Biber and Leavy 2008; Bryman 2012), and MMR has been described as a “third paradigm” (Denscombe 2008), a “movement” (Bryman 2009), a “third methodology” (Tashakkori and Teddlie 2010b), a “distinct approach” (Greene 2008) and an “emerging field” (Tashakkori and Teddlie 2011), defined by a common name (that sets it apart from other approaches to combining methods) and shared terminology (Tashakkori and Teddlie 2010b, p. 19). By contrast, classical social science disciples are barely represented. "Guidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering". Sloppy data floods or precise social science methodologies? The history of method use in the social sciences can briefly be summarized as first, a rather fluid use of what can retrospectively be called different methods in large scale research projects—such as the Yankee City study of Lloyd Warner and his associates (see Platt 1996, p. 102), the study on union democracy of Lipset et al. Another sign of institutionalization can be found in efforts to forge a common disciplinary identity by providing a narrative about its history. What are the homologies between these fields? Foundations of mixed methods research – Integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches in the social and behavioral sciences. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. However, the direction that the practice of combining methods is taking under the MMR approach seems problematic to us. (2003). They locate its beginnings in the late 1980s when researchers in various fields began to combine qualitative and quantitative methods (ibid., pp. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 12(3), 268–276. At the dominant side, those with more scientific capital tend to have access to the field of power, agents who hold the most economic and cultural capital, for example by holding positions in policy advisory committees or company boards. An example of the first is the conference on mixed method research design held in Basel in 2005. Communities of practice a research paradigm for the mixed methods approach. In W. Bijker, T. Hughes, T. Pinch, & D. Douglas (Eds. The specific approach to combining methods that is proposed by MMR has been successful from an institutional point of view, achieving visibility through the foundation of a journal and association and a considerable output of core MMR scholars in terms of books, conference proceedings, and journal articles. Read more. To put it bluntly, the name “mixed methods research” is actually a misnomer, because what is mixed are paradigms or “approaches,” not methods. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Morgan denounces the essentialist approach to categorizing qualitative and quantitative research in favor of a categorization based on “family resemblances,” in which he draws on Wittgenstein. Bourdieu, P. (2004). In the last decade, its procedures have been developed and refined Drawing on criteria proposed by Fleck et al. Fielding, N. (2012). 20–21). A history of sociological research methods in America: 1920–1960. As a further indication of institutionalization, a research association (the Mixed Methods International Research Association—MMIRA) was founded in 2013 and its inaugural conference was held in 2014. ), The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Scholars operating in a field are endowed with initial and accumulated field-specific capital, and are engaged in the struggle to gain additional capital (mainly scientific and intellectual prestige) in order to advance their position in the field. In Table 3, the articles in the sample are categorized according to the disciplinary category of the journal in which they appeared. It is also part of the identity that MMR consciously assumes, and that serves to set it apart from previous, more practical attempts to combine methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. As reasons for the emergence of MMR at this stage they identify the growing complexity of research problems, the perception of qualitative research as a legitimate form of inquiry (also by quantitative researchers) and the increasing need qualitative researchers felt for generalising their findings. The highly-anticipated second edition of the Foundations of Mixed Methods Research:Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches in the Social and Behavioral Sciences gives students a comprehensive overview of mixed methods from philosophical roots and traditions through designing, conducting, and disseminating a study.Authors Abbas Tashakkori, R. Burke Johnson, and … As a consequence, the issue becomes the following: methods need to be disengaged from too strict an interpretation of the epistemological context in which they were developed in order for them to be “mixable,”’, but, at the same time, they must keep the epistemology attributed to them firmly intact. This presents a paradox: although they have the capital to take more risks, they have also invested heavily in the orthodoxy of the field and will thus be reluctant to upset the status quo and risk destroying the value of their investment. PubMed Google Scholar. These classifications provide the basis for typologies that, in turn, provide guidelines to conduct MMR in a concrete research project. We proceed as follows. We proceed from a different perspective on methods. An inclusive framework for conceptualizing mixed method design typologies. For instance, Bryman (2009) worried that MMR could become “a ghetto.” For him, the institutional landmarks of having a journal, conferences, and a handbook increase the risk of “not considering the whole range of possibilities.” He added: “I don’t regard it as a field, I kind of think of it as a way of thinking about how you go about research.” (Bryman, cited in Leech 2010, p. 261). For instance, Morgan (2007) and Hesse-Biber (2010) consider pragmatism as a philosophy that distinguishes MMR from qualitative (constructivism) and quantitative (positivist) research and that can provide a rationale for the paradigmatic pluralism typical of MMR. Why not take a deeper look into the epistemological technology of methods themselves, to let the muted components speak up in order to look for alternative “mixing interfaces” that could potentially provide equally valid benefits in terms of the understanding of a research object? But this leads to a paradox, since the epistemological frameworks need to be held flexible enough to allow researchers to integrate elements of each of them (in the shape of methods) into one MMR design. Setting out to answer these questions opens up the possibility of exploring other interesting combinations of methods that emerge from the combination of different practices, situated in different historical and epistemological contexts, and with their unique set of interpretations regarding their constituent elements. In general, field theory provides a model for the structural dimensions of practices. Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research. ), Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research (2nd ed.). The origins of the subfield of MMR lay in the broader field of social scientific disciplines. Psychological Bulletin, 56(2), 81–105. Moreover, innovative strategies will be less concerned with the intricacies of the pure discussions that prevail at the autonomous pole and be of a more practical nature, but pursued from different degrees of legitimacy according to the differences in scientific capital. But rather than problematizing the link between the performativity of methods and the data that are enacted within the frame of a method, here too MMR relies on a dichotomy: that between quantitative and qualitative data. In A. Tashakkori & C. Teddlie (Eds. Others are more in favour of finding a philosophical foundation that underlies MMR. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave. Guba, E., & Lincoln, Y. Google Scholar. The argument to use both quantitative and qualitative modes in one study has been based on over theoretical approach to research within the social sciences… As is clear from Table 2, the largest number of articles in the sample were published in journals in the field of nursing: 332 articles (42%) appeared in journals that can be assigned to this category. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Handbook of emergent methods. Finally, we conclude with some tentative proposals for an alternative view on combining methods. For instance, part of the production of legitimate knowledge takes place outside of universities. In D. Edge, S. Jasanof, G. Markle, J. Petersen, & T. Pinch (Eds. Toward a definition of mixed methods research. Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research (2nd ed.). There are differences in opinion as to how this is best achieved, but there is widespread agreement that some kind of common methodological and conceptual foundation of MMR is needed. Specifically, researchers now seem to speak of mixing higher order concepts: some speak of mixing methodologies, others refer to mixing “research approaches,” or combining “types of research,” or engage in “multiple ways of seeing the social world” (Creswell and Plano Clark 2011). Savage, M., & Burrows, R. (2007). The role of these entrepreneurs or ‘intellectual leaders’ who can channel intellectual energy and can take the lead in institution building has been emphasised by sociologists of science as an important aspect of the production of knowledge that is visible and recognized as distinct in the larger scientific field (e.g., Mullins 1973; Collins 1998). According to Morgan, they interpreted a paradigm mainly in metaphysical terms, stressing the connections among the trinity of ontology, epistemology, and methodology as used in the philosophy of knowledge (Morgan 2007, p. 57). The Handbook contains a gold mine of articles by leading scholars on what has come to be known as the third methodological movement in social research. Mixed methdos can be more time consuming and expensive when concurrency is involved. Patton, M. (2002). Les conditions sociales de la circulation internationale des idées. This would at least allow a look under the hood of a method, and new ways of mixing methods could be opened up that go beyond the crude “qualitative” versus “quantitative” dichotomy. Brewer, J., & Hunter, A. Mixed methods projects … Savage, M. (2013). Studying the Dutch business elite: Relational concepts and methods. Creswell, J. Tashakkori, A., & Teddlie, C. (2010b). 1, where the number of publications mentioning “mixed methods” in the title or abstract in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science is depicted. Viewing MMR as a position-taking of academic entrepreneurs, linked to their objective position in this field, allows us to reflect sociologically on the substance of the approach. Sapiro, G., Brun, E., & Fordant, C. (2018). Mixed methods research: Contemporary issues in an emerging field. Significantly, there is no mention of Bourdieu’s take on combining methods in any of the sources we studied. The reflexive position generated by such a systematic juxtaposition of methods is a fruitful basis to come to a richer perspective on combining methods. (1956), and the Marienthal study by Lazarsfeld and his associates (Jahoda et al. (Eds.). Research in Nursing & Health, 37(1), 3–8. ), Shaping human science disciplines: Institutional developments in Europe and beyond. Retrieved from https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/journal-of-mixed-methods-research/journal201775#aims-and-scope on 1/17/2019. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 2(3), 270–283. Then, in the third, we assess the degree of institutionalization of MMR, drawing on the indicators of academic institutionalization developed by Fleck et al. The lists were compiled bi-annually over this period, resulting in 5 top ten lists for the following Web of Science categories: Economics, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science, Nursing, Education & Educational Research, Business, Cultural Studies, and Family Studies. The second theme discussed in a large number of contributions is the role epistemology plays in MMR. It is therefore helpful to introduce a second differentiation in the field that, following Bourdieu (1975, p. 103), is based on the differences between the expected profits from these strategies. They have come, in many ways, to represent “two cultures” (Goertz and Mahony 2012) of research, institutionalised in academia, and the effects of nominally “belonging” to (or being assigned to) one particular category have very real consequences in terms of, for instance, access to research grants and specific journals. The first process refers to the establishment of degrees, curricula, faculties, etc., or to institutions tied to the academic bureaucracy and academic politics. Since then, we have published more than a dozen articles and book chapters on mixed methods research. Bourdieu, P. (1993). However, out of the ensuing clash a new, still dominant classification of methods emerged, one that relies on the framing of methods as either “qualitative” or “quantitative.” Moreover, these labels have become synonymous with epistemological positions that are reproduced in MMR.