Perspective (graphical)

Sociology

Multimethodology

Pure mathematics

Mathematics

Social science

Engineering

Signal-to-noise ratio (imaging)

Artificial intelligence

Data science

Underlay

Computer science

Management science

Field (mathematics)

Telecommunications

Theory and Society

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.

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