Engaging Critical Issues in Social Inquiry by Mixing Methods

Abstract

Across the methodological spectrum, social inquirers today are challenged by a set of critical issues. These include the complexity of human phenomena, the location of context in human action, the role of values in inquiry, and the role of inquiry in society. Different methodological traditions offer different responses to these challenges, responses that, in turn, shape the knowledge generated from a study and the warrants for that knowledge. This article presents a mixed methodological response to these challenges and a primary argument that a mixed methods approach offers dialogic opportunities to generate better understanding of important social phenomena precisely because it legitimizes and respects multiple responses to these critical issues and invites dialogue among them. The argument is illustrated by imagining a mixed methods approach to two empirical studies, each conducted originally with a single methodological framework.