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Uses of Paradigms in Mixed Methods Inquiry
Abstract Submissions Closed
RC33 Logic and Methodology in Sociology (host committee)
Language: English
Session Type: Oral
Although discourses around paradigms – that we consider here as sets of assumptions about ontology, epistemology, methodology and axiology in social research – have been largely explored in their consequences for mixing methods, controversies are far to be exhausted. Moreover, the effort suggested by mixed methods is expressly to overcome “paradigm wars”, despite the fact that conversations are questionably progressing from that perspective: mixed methods rather end up acting like a third player on the battleground (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004; Tashakkori, 2009). Pragmatism is often considered as the most suitable paradigm for mixed methods, but sometimes it ends up being applied to mixed methods studies merely as a label, without an attentive intention (Biesta, 2010; Feilzer, 2010). Then, all things considered, it is undeniable that researchers engaging in mixed methods, face numerous challenges when it comes to paradigms in their application to the empirical process of inquiry.
Thus, we intend to ask: (1) is pragmatism helping to overcome “paradigm wars”? (2) Are other possible uses of paradigms (e.g. paradigms as toolkits: Maxwell, 2011) beneficial for mixed methods inquiry?
This session will welcome contributions on these challenges, underlining the difficulties for researchers in the empirical praxis, when innovating methods while still being thoughtful about paradigms. Moreover, we will appreciate reflections on creative ways of adopting instruments from philosophy for research purposes, refusing to fit into traditional conceptions of paradigms nor into paradigm wars.