Mixed Methods Research: Positivism Dressed in Drag?

Date
2006
Authors
Giddings, L
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AUT University; SAGE
Abstract

The claim that mixed methods is the third methodological movement of the twentieth century could have unexpected consequences for the future of research in the social sciences and health disciplines. Implied is a belief that the mixing of qualitative and quantitative methods will produce the ‘best of both worlds’. This assumption, combined with inherent promises of inclusiveness, takes on a reality and certainty in research findings that serves well the powerful nexus of economic restraint and evidence-based practice. I argue that the use of the terms ‘qualitative’ and ‘quantitative’ as normative descriptors reinforces their binary positioning, effectively marginalising the methodological diversity within them. Ideologically, mixed methods covers for the continuing hegemony of positivism, albeit in its more moderate, post positivist form. If naively interpreted, mixed methods could become the preferred approach in the teaching and doing of research. Rather than the promotion of more co-operative and complex designs for increasingly complex social and health issues, economic and administrative pressures may lead to demands for the ‘quick fix’ that mixed methods appears to offer.

Description
Keywords
Mixed methods , Post positivism , Evidenced-based practice , Qualitative research , Quantitative research , Methodology
Source
Journal of Research in Nursing, vol.11(3), pp.195 - 203
DOI
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Authors retain the right to place his/her pre-publication version of the work on a personal website or institutional repository. This article may not exactly replicate the final version published. It is not the copy of record. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published by SAGE Publications Ltd. All rights reserved. © 2006. (please see Citation and Publisher’s Version).