Pragmatic Approach and the Choice of Methods

8/18/2019 Pragmatic Approach and the Choice of Methods

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Pragmatic Approach and

the Choice of MethodsDr. Muhammad Islam

University of the Punjab

Ph D (University of Leeds, UK)


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Paradigmati on!it of the "uantitativeand "ualitative a##roahes

Philoso#hial Divide bet$een Positivists

and Inter#retivists dihotomy bet$een the %dedutive&

objetive&generali'ing and %indutive&subjetive&ontetual a##roahes(Morgan, *++, P. -)

eent /oies against strit 0ualitative 10uantitative demaration and the

emergene of ne$ vie$s 1 e.g. #ragmatism

Introduction


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Does insistence on mono-method

research pose any threat to theadvancement of the social sciences?

Does pragmatic approach (or its

philosophical companion -MixedMethod approach) oer a !ay out?

Points to Consider"


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#hree Ma$or%chools of#hought

Purists2ituation&

alistsPragmatists

Can &uantitative and &ualitativeApproaches Co-exist?


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Inom#atibility 3hesis (4o$e, 5677)

8aommodation bet$een #aradigms

is im#ossible . . . $e are led to vastly

diverse, dis#arate, and totally antithetialends8 (9uba, 566+, #. 75) 3$o se#arate researh ultures& 8one

#rofessing the su#eriority of :dee#, rih

observational data% and the other thevirtues of :hard, generali'able: ... data;

(2ieber, 56-, #. 5--


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=ous on %Di>erenes rather than on the%2imilarities

/ie$ing e#istemology and method as beingsynonymous

?arro$ de@nition of the one#t %2iene 1objetive veri@ation

2ubjetivity A Bbjetivity C 2ubjetivity

%fully objetive and value&free researh is amyth (ohnson E Bn$uegbu'ie, *++F, #.5G)

?earerfet reliability is not ahievable insoial sienes

Issues !ith ParadigmConicts


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Inter#retivists laim of multi#le and validaounts of %reality al$ays eist an bemisleading.

Un0uali@ed relativism of 0ualitative #urists "ualitative analysis %often remain #rivate

and unavailable for #ubli ins#etion(Honstas, 566*, #. *erent orientation

Continued


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Use of em#irial observations to addressresearh 0uestions

Use of safeguards to minimise on@rmation

bias and other soures of invalidity (e.g.triangulation, narrative onlusions andim#liations)

Derivation of meanings from the

inter#retation of Data Use of %data redution in both methods of

in0uiry

Commonalities et!een&ualitative and &uantitative

Approaches


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ole of %theory is entral for both #aradigms

"ualitative ##roahJ theory initiation A theorybuilding

"uantitative ##roahJ theory testing A theory

modi@ation oth em#irial and 0ualitative data are

interhangeable

9ueulette et al.s (5666) analysis of --6randomly seleted 0ualitative artiles 1 FF invlovled the blending of 0ualitative E0uantitative

Continued


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ll researh in the soial sienesre#resents an attem#t to understandhuman beings and the $orld around them

?eed to fous on removing the barriersagainst the merging of t$o methods

De&em#hasi'e the terms 0ualitative and0uantitative, instead subdivide researh

into %e#loratory and %on@rmatorymethods

#ragmati a##roah to researh instead ofa blind follo$ing of methodologial divide

*eed for a methodologicalPluralism + A ,ay or!ard


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3he meaning of an idea may be disovered in itsonse0uenes

oth methods may be useful in ertain researhsituations and an be #ut together to #rodue a

su#erior #rodut Provides a useful middle ground #hiloso#hially as

$ell as methodologially 3he goal of mied methods researh is not to

re#lae either of these a##roahes but rather todra$ from the strengths and minimi'e the$eanesses of both in single researh studies andaross studies.

Pragmatism + the philosophy ofmixed method approach


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.esearchApproach

&ualitative &uantitative Pragmatic

Honnetion ofthe theory and

data

Indution Dedution bdution

elationshi# toresearh#roess

2ubjetivity Bbjetivity Intersubjetivity

Inferene fromdata

Hontet 9enerality 3ransferability

A Comparison of .esearchApproaches


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Mied Method anJ Use narrative to add meaning to numbers Use numbers to add #reision to $ords generate and test a grounded theory ans$er a broader and more om#lete range of

researh 0uestions Use the strengths of an additional method to

overome the $eanesses in another method Provide stronger evidene for a onlusion

through onvergene and orroboration of@ndings

%trengths of Mixed Method.esearch


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Inrease the generali'ability of researh Produe more om#lete no$ledge to

inform theory and #ratie

Nnable researhers to be !eible in theirinvestigative tehni0ues Merge the researhers onerns and the

#artii#ants voie in a single study

Continued


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5. 3riangulation 1 seeing onvergene andorroboration of results from di>erentmethods

*. Hom#lementarity & seeing elaboration,enhanement, illustration, and lari@ationof the results from one method $ith resultsfrom the other method

-. Initiation & disovering #aradoes andontraditions that lead to a re&framing ofthe researh 0uestion

ive .ationales for MixedMethod .esearch


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F. Develo#ment & using the @ndings from onemethod to hel# inform the other method

erentmethods for di>erent in0uiry om#onents

Continued


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Mied method a##roah based on #ragmatismhas a great #otential to address multi&faetedissues in soial sienes researh.

esearhers should selet methods and

a##roahes $ith res#et to their underlyingresearh 0uestions, rather than $ith regard tosome #reoneived biases about a researh#aradigm

esearh methodologists formally reogni'e the third researh #aradigm and begin

systematially $riting about it and using it

Conclusion


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#han/ 0ou

Pragmatic Approach and the Choice of Methods

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