Abstract
Mixed methods research (MMR), which is touted as a third methodological movement is increasingly becoming a popular approach in several fields as a result of the promise it holds to providing a better and balanced investigation of research problems in context. In spite of that, there is limited knowledge about its pervasiveness in economic and management sciences in South Africa. Based on a content analysis of 332 articles published in The South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences from 2003 to 2011, the main purpose of this quantitative study is to explore the prevalence of MMR in SAJEMS. Although methodological advances have been made in the field of economic and management sciences as reflected in the articles in SAJEMS, the findings reveal that scholars employ quantitative and qualitative methodologies than MMR. Given the paucity of MMR in the field, this study underscores the potential benefits of embracing methodological pluralism as it offers methodological and theoretical benefits. First, the use of MMR provides the possibility for researchers to obtain a comprehensive picture of a phenomenon under investigation and achieve their research purpose effectively. Secondly, its utilisation may also contribute to theory development and the maturity of the field as reflected in SAJEMS.
Highlights
Introduction and contextMixed methods research (MMR) is regarded by some scholars as a third methodological movement (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2003:ix) that advocates (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2012: 776) methodological eclecticism which involves the utilisation of quantitative and qualitative approaches within a single study
The question, which is the major focus of this article, is: To what extent has research in economic and management sciences reported in SAJEMS embraced the multiple research perspective? To answer the question, we examined the research methods used in
Examining the prevalence rates of methodological approaches within the social sciences is a new line of research that is emerging in MMR (Alise & Teddlie, 2010: 103). In this line of research, this study examined the methodological trends in SAJEMS in order to determine the proportion of articles using MMR and the perceived rationale of using MMR
Summary
Mixed methods research (MMR) is regarded by some scholars as a third methodological movement (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2003:ix) that advocates (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2012: 776) methodological eclecticism which involves the utilisation of quantitative and qualitative approaches within a single study. Tashakkori and Teddlie (2010b:818) went a long way towards addressing these criticisms, we would like to emphasise that we agree with many theorists that the research approach used in any investigation should be determined by the research problem and its epistemological framing Scholars such as Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007) argue that the research problem determines the research approach and the methods employed in relation to data needed to answer the questions, where such data is and how such data is to be collected and analysed. This does not in any way weaken the case of MMR.
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