Mixed methods research: combining quantitative and qualitative research
Which version of the debate about multi-strategy research suggests that quantitative and qualitative research is compatible?
Technical version
Methodological version
Epistemological version
Feminist version
Technical version
There is an argument for using a mixed-methods approach, apart from attempting to counter the arguments against. One of these is called the “technical” argument. In essence, this is the argument which distinguishes between data-gathering and (even) data-analysis techniques, as being autonomous, on the one hand and the espoused epistemologies of researchers on the other. This argument sees the ‘competing’ research strategies as compatible, making mixed methods research feasible.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 637
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 637
Technical version There is an argument for using a mixed-methods approach, apart from attempting to counter the arguments against. One of these is called the “technical” argument. In essence, this is the argument which distinguishes between data-gathering and (even) data-analysis techniques, as being autonomous, on the one hand and the espoused epistemologies of researchers on the other. This argument sees the ‘competing’ research strategies as compatible, making mixed methods research feasible.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 637
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 637
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When might unplanned multi-stage research be described as a “salvage operation”?A. When the researcher abandons their original strategy and starts all over again
B. When the second research strategy is used to explain unexpected or puzzling results
C. When there is a paradigm shift from quantitative to qualitative research
D. When it is ethically unsound to use only one research strategy
How might quantitative research facilitate qualitative research?
A. By identifying specific groups of people to be interviewed
B. By showing the frequency of different responses to a survey item
C. By imposing a rigorous positivist framework on it
D. By combining laboratory experiments with structured observation
How might qualitative research facilitate quantitative research?
A. By providing hypotheses that can later be tested
B. By helping with the design of survey questions
C. By informing the schedule of a structured interview
D. All of the above
What is the name of one of the arguments that suggests that research methods are inextricably linked to epistemological commitments?
A. Triangulation argument
B. Postmodern argument
C. Embedded methods argument
D. Positivist argument
How might qualitative research help with the analysis of quantitative data?
A. By identifying a sample of respondents for a follow-up study
B. By providing hard, statistical data about them
C. By making the research more value-laden and subjective
D. By helping to explain the relationship between two variables
How can multi-strategy research help us to study different aspects of a phenomenon?
A. By reducing the standard deviation of scores around the mean
B. By allowing the researcher to interview first women, and then men
C. By revealing both the macro and the micro level
D. By making it unnecessary to have more than one stage in the research process
What is triangulation?
A. Using three quantitative or three qualitative methods in a project
B. Cross-checking the results found by different research strategies
C. Allowing theoretical concepts to emerge from the data
D. Drawing a triangular diagram to represent the relations between three concepts
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