Overview
- Integrates quantitative methods with qualitative observations of the real world
- Emphasizes practice and explains techniques using software examples
- Offers accessible guidance relevant to researchers across disciplines
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (11 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Setting Up Systematic Mixed Methods Research (SMMR)
-
Front Matter
-
-
SMMR Approaches in Practical Terms
-
Front Matter
-
-
Interpretation and the Validity of Research
-
Front Matter
-
-
Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This textbook provides clear and accessible guidance on the importance and practical application of mixed-methods research. Professor Olsen presents a range of multiple mixed-methods techniques using quantified data. Critical realism underpins key arguments. She offers detailed examples based on wide experience with international applied social-science projects.
The book shows readers how to join quantitative and qualitative data together. Detailed methods include: using multiple-level data; constructing new indices based on mixing survey responses and personal interviews; and using focus groups alongside a large survey. The book provides readers with linkages of data between different software packages. It explains the analysis stage in mixed-methods research, interprets complex causality, shows how to transform data, and helps with interpreting social structures, institutions, and discourses. Finally, the book covers some epistemological issues. These include the nature and value of data. The author discusses validity and techniques for ensuring relevant, innovative conclusions. The book also touches on action research as an overarching participatory method.This book is based on clear and explicit definitions, is accessible to students and researchers across disciplines, and shows the appeal of mixed-methods research to those trained in quantitative methods.Reviews
“This book is an authoritative and much-needed introduction to systematic mixed-methods research by a leading author in the field. It brings together a wide range of important methods that are usually omitted from traditional textbooks. Transcending the now dated qualitative-quantitative divide, the author explains these methods in clear language using ample examples. Most importantly, Wendy Olsen embeds them in explicitly critical ontological and epistemological foundations utilizing ‘open retroduction’, a highly innovative mode of critical scientific inquiry. This is a well-written and long-overdue book.” (Dr Theo Papadopoulos, Director, Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy, University of Bath, UK)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Systematic Mixed-Methods Research for Social Scientists
Authors: Wendy Olsen
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93148-3
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-93147-6Published: 29 July 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-93148-3Published: 28 July 2022
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXIII, 245
Number of Illustrations: 254 illustrations in colour
Topics: Social Sciences, general, Human Geography, Statistics, general, Research Methods in Education