“I Can’t Prescribe Something Just Because Someone Asks for It . . .”

Abstract

This article demonstrates how a systematic triangulation of research perspectives can provide a methodological framework for the practice of mixed methods research. The authors illustrate the application of a “systematic approach” by focusing on an in-depth case study concerning the management of sleeping problems in nursing homes. Two sources of quantitative data (assessment of the status of residents and medication prescribed by physicians) and several contextualized qualitative approaches—one that focuses on physicians’ interpretive patterns concerning their prescription practices, and another that looks at nursing staff and nursing home residents’ attitudes toward sleep medication—are triangulated. The authors discuss the levels on which these perspectives can be linked, as well as the implications of their case study analysis for the methodological development of a mixed methods approach that is tied to the concept of triangulation.