Promises and Challenges of Methodological Triangulation: The Case of European Values' Survey.
International Sociological Association
5th ISA Forum of Sociology
July, 6 – 11 2025
Abstract
Title: « Promises and Challenges of Methodological Triangulation: The Case of a Study on European Values”
Methodological triangulation is particularly desirable when culture or social change are a key variable in the study, as well as for case study research. It is broadly defined as the combination of methodologies. It can be used to increase confidence, validity, credibility and interpretability of the results. The justification of its use reside mainly in the idea that the flaws of one method are often the strengths of another. It could take the form of “within-method” triangulation, or “between-method” triangulation.
In this paper, I would be interested in the latter as it relates to the combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. I believe they are complementary rather than rival camps.
I would also approach the effect of the 'epistemological chasm' between quantitative and qualitative research on triangulation, as its manifested within differing research traditions, such as positivism, on the one hand, and interactionism, constructivism, hermeneutics, and rational choice theory, on the other.
I would focus my analysis on the book “Les Européens et leurs valeurs _ Entre individualism et individualization”, published in 2023 (first edition). As it is a research that has used only a questionnaire all over the European countries, I would argue on what the use of some qualitative methods could have brought to it, in terms of cultural particularities, in-depth exploration, completeness of study, and context understanding. I would extract specific themes from the study, comment on the quantitative data related to them, show to what extent we could enhance our understanding by applying qualitative methodology to the same subject of study, and provide information for further studies.