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. 2018). This two-fold structuring of the field allows for a more nuanced conception of innovation than the dichotomy “conservative” versus “radical.” Holders of large amounts of scientific capital at the autonomous pole of the field are the producers and conservators of orthodoxy, producing and diffusing what can be called “orthodox innovations” through their control of relatively powerful networks of consecration and circulation. (Eds.). 2) that helps to understand the context in which MMR was developed. Tashakkori, A., & Teddlie, C. (2010c). Les conditions sociales de la circulation internationale des idées. Its origins and circulation in vocational studies rather than classical academic disciplines can be understood from the position these studies occupy in the scientific field and the kinds of position-taking and innovations these positions give rise to. 1, where the number of publications mentioning “mixed methods” in the title or abstract in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science is depicted. 2017). For Creswell and Plano Clark, one of the earliest examples is Campbell and Fiske’s (1959) combination of quantitative methods to improve the validity of psychological scales that gave rise to the triangulation approach to research. 2013; Burrows and Savage 2014). We find this strong drive to develop methodologies, definitions, and typologies of MMR as guides to valid mixed methods research problematic. Serendipities, Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences, 2(1), 33–49 Retrieved from http://serendipities.uni-graz.at/index.php/serendipities/issue/view/5. This allowed these scholars to depict the line between research traditions in stark, contrasting terms, using Kuhn’s idea of “incommensurability” in the sense of its “early Kuhn” interpretation. How are epistemology and ontology defined in different fields and how do those definitions feed into methods? This position necessitates an engagement with those who hold that the quantitative/qualitative dichotomy is unbridgeable. Purists call for researchers to “eliminate their biases, remain emotionally detached and uninvolved with the In this article, we are arguing that this one-sided perspective is problematic. Creswell, J. 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. Is mixed methods social inquiry a distinctive methodology? They take the view that earlier texts on mixing methods stressed a “disentanglement of methods and philosophy,” while later texts locate the practice of mixing methods in “all phases of the research process” (Creswell and Plano Clark 2011, p. 2). However, it is important to add some nuance to this general observation. The position of the subfield of MMR in the scientific field is related to the position-takings of agents that form the core of this subfield (Bourdieu 1993, p. 35). Limitations of mixed methods research include: Cronholm, S. & Hjalmarsson, A. At the core of the MMR approach we thus find that methods are seen as unproblematic representations of different epistemologies. (Eds.). This not only constitutes a problem for trying to understand methods as intellectual products, but also for regarding the practice of combining methods, because it ignores the social-historical context of the development of individual methods and hinders a sociologically grounded notion of combining methods. His major writing interests are social science research methodology and school effectiveness research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 6(2), 124–136. 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. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. By contrast, classical social science disciples are barely represented. First, the risk an innovator faces depends on her position in the field. (2004). ), Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research (2nd ed.). Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 2(3), 270–283. Has MMR become a recognizable realm of knowledge production? Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). How are methods and their elements objectified? Using Mixed Methods in Monitoring and Evaluation: Experiences from International Development Evaluation . For instance, in their introduction to the handbook, Tashakkori and Teddlie (2010b) propose a definition of the methodology of mixed methods research as “the broad inquiry logic that guides the selection of specific methods and that is informed by conceptual positions common to mixed methods practitioners” (Tashakkori and Teddlie 2010b, p. 5). Sapiro, G., Brun, E., & Fordant, C. (2018). The different types and various classifications speak to the evolving nature of mixed methods research. While it goes beyond the scope of this article to delve into the history of the qualitative-quantitative divide in the social sciences, some broad observations can be made here. Seeing methods as complex technologies, with a history that entails the struggles among the different agents involved in their production, and use opens the way to identify multiple interfaces for combining them: the one-sided boxes become polyhedra. Interviews with the early developers of mixed methods research. This, in turn, allows a more sophisticated validation of using—and combining—methods than relying on prescribed methodologies. This way, a four-fold classification of innovative strategies in the scientific field emerges (see Fig. See footnote 1. Hesse-Biber, S. (2010). Bourdieu, P., Chamboredon, J., & Passeron, J. How can this be understood from a field theoretical perspective? Sampling decisions typically are more complicated in mixed methods research because sampling schemes must be designed for In the last decade, its procedures have been developed and refined ), Shaping human science disciplines: Institutional developments in Europe and beyond. 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. The aim is to understand these agents’ engagement in MMR, as well as its distinctive content as being informed by their position in this field. (2007). We do not provide a full-fledged field analysis of MMR here. Creswell and Plano Clark thus locate the emergence of “MMR proper” at the second stage, when researchers started to use both qualitative and quantitative methods within a single research effort. ), The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Definition Mixed-Methods. In Brewer and Hunter (2006) they discuss the MMR approach very briefly and only include two references in their bibliography to the handbook of Tashakkori and Teddlie (2003), and at the end of 2013 they had not published in the JMMR. The scope includes delineating where mixed methods … 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. This principle allows us to make a distinction between, respectively, the dominant and dominated factions in a field. For each category, we selected the 10 journals with the highest 5-year impact factor in their category in the period 2007–2015. - 167.71.45.142. Of course, this difference is a matter of degree, as even the works produced at the most heteronomous positions still have to adhere to the standards of the scientific field to be seen as legitimate. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Fielding, meanwhile, has written two articles for the JMMR (Fielding and Cisneros-Puebla 2009; Fielding 2012). Moreover, the positions richest in scientific capital will, by definition, be the most consecrated ones. Mixed methods research approaches are gaining traction across various social science disciplines, including among developmental scientists. The Mixed Methods Approach 9 2.1.our decisions for designing a mixed methods evaluation F 9 2.2. Agents occupying positions at the top of their field’s hierarchy are rich in specific capital and can more easily afford to undertake risky projects. After a brief outline … But here he refers explicitly to the autonomy of the scientific field, making it virtually impossible for amateurs to stand up against the historically accumulated capital in the field and incite a revolution. In social science, mixed method can be used to refer to the combination of both quantitative and qualitative data sources in a single study. Being strictly focused on the most autonomous principles of legitimacy, they are unable to accommodate and have no choice but to reject the orthodoxy. Admission requirements. By adding the insight of STS researchers that the point of deconstructing science and technology is not so much to offer a new best way of doing science or technology, but to provide insights into the critical moments in research (for a take on such a debate, see, for example, Edge 1995, pp. The next section addresses the question of the socio-genesis of MMR. After the crisis? However, it is not a novelty in the methodological landscape. Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 145(5), 3–8. 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). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. The insight offered by Bourdieu’s notion of reflexivity is, on the contrary, that the actual research practice is fundamentally open in terms of being guided by a logic of practice that cannot be captured by a preconceived and all-encompassing logic independent of that practice. Part of Springer Nature. (1956), and the Marienthal study by Lazarsfeld and his associates (Jahoda et al. (2016) for the institutionalization of academic disciplines, MMR seems to have achieved a significant degree of institutionalization within the scientific field. Sampling strategies for QUANT and QUAL oriented MM evaluations 19 3.2. We turn to this in the next section. Bourdieu (1999, p. 26) mentions that one has to be a scientific capitalist to be able to start a scientific revolution. 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). This framework makes it possible to contextualize the emergence of MMR in a socio-historical way. Combining methods in social scientific research has recently gained momentum through a research strand called Mixed Methods Research (MMR). (2014) A Concise Introduction to Mixed Methods Research. The method has the capability to take into consideration both confirmatory and exploratory research questions within the same study. Living with blurry boundaries: The values of distinguishing between qualitative and quantitative research.