Mixed methods research: what it is and what it could be

Abstract

Combining methods in social scientific research has recently gained momentum through a research strand called Mixed Methods Research (MMR). This approach, which explicitly aims to offer a framework for combining methods, has rapidly spread through the social and behavioural sciences, and this article offers an analysis of the approach from a field theoretical perspective. After a brief outline of the MMR program, we ask how its recent rise can be understood. We then delve deeper into some of the specific elements that constitute the MMR approach, and we engage critically with the assumptions that underlay this particular conception of using multiple methods. We conclude by offering an alternative view regarding methods and method use. Keywords Data, field analysis. Mixed methods research. Multiple methods. Reflexivity. Sociology of science The interest in combining methods in social scientific research has a long history. Terms such as Btriangulation,^Bcombining methods,^and Bmultiple methodsĥ ave been around for quite a while to designate using different methods of data analysis in empirical studies. However, this practice has gained new momentum

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