A Generative Sequential Mixed Methods Approach Using Quantitative Measures to Enhance Social Constructionist Inquiry

Abstract

In order to enhance core mixed methods research designs, social scientists need an approach that incorporates developments in the social constructionist perspective. This work describes a study that aimed to promote occupational well-being in hospital departments where employees are at risk of burnout, based on a constructionist inquiry developed starting from the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Taking this study as an example, we define a “generative sequential mixed methods approach” as a process that involves consulting quantitative studies to identify criticalities on which to conduct focused, transformative investigations. The article contributes by envisaging ways to mix qualitative and quantitative methods that consider a “generative” and “future-forming” orientation to research, in line with recent shifts in social psychology.

Stemming the “ageism pandemic”: A qualitative inquiry with older adults in residential care facilities during the Covid-19 outbreak

“…The interviews contributed to promoting positive discourses and the co-construction of more harmonious life scenarios. Having available alternative and more fruitful imaginaries could contribute to a change of mindset and enrich the interviewees’ lives in general (Romaioli, 2022). Offering the interviewees an opportunity for dialog and emphasizing the importance of their contribution to the research have fostered positive mental states in the here and now.…”

“…As seen, our focus was primarily—even if not exclusively—on enhancing and emphasizing the positive aspects of participants’ experience. This orientation is widely rooted in recent movements in social sciences which invite researchers to rethink research more as a “future-forming” (Gergen, 2015; 2023), “generative” (Romaioli, 2022), and “world-making” (Power et al, 2023) activity. As this orientation assumes that the interaction between researchers and participants can be transformative of social realities, it usually aims to emphasize what is working, how things could be—unlike studies that aim to define problems in an attempt to measure them.…”

Self-positions and narratives facilitating or hindering posttraumatic growth: A qualitative analysis with migrant women of Nigerian descent survivors of trafficking.

“…All participants signed the informed consent and privacy form. The therapeutic pathways followed a narrative orientation to the interview process and made extensive use of open and generative questions (Romaioli, 2021) for the purpose of facilitating the participants’ story-telling (Flick, 2009).…”

Framing the tendency to betray one's good intentions. Akrasia as a dialogical dynamic

“…The idea here is to explore potential commonalities between the interests of one I-position and those defended by another, and thus review the conviction that they are so divergent. A second possible approach involves training the I-position that expresses a given good intention to construct rhetorically effective narratives (Romaioli, 2022), the goal being to reach a consensus, or prevail over the antagonist position ("my reasons outweigh yours"), or make dissent more tolerable ("I know you think that way, but …").…”