Mixed Methods,Triangulation,and Causal Explanation

Abstract

This article distinguishes a disjunctive conception of mixed methods/triangulation, which brings different methods to bear on different questions, from a conjunctive conception, which brings different methods to bear on the same question. It then examines a more inclusive, holistic conception of mixed methods/triangulation that accommodates ostensibly divergent findings by bringing them under a more comprehensive framework. Intertwined with this analysis, the article distinguishes mechanical from agential causation. Mechanical causation accounts for ordered processes of human behavior on the model of the natural sciences; agential causation accounts for ordered processes of human behavior in terms of norm-governed institutions and practices. The article concludes that there are no barriers to triangulating qualitative and quantitative methods (disjunctively or conjunctively) with respect to either mechanical or agential causation, taken separately. However, it also concludes that more comprehensive, “holistic” causal explanation that combines mechanical and agential causation, for example, explaining defiant behavior by appeal to lead poisoning, is discontinuous.

Keywords

mixed methods causal explanation triangulation quantitative qualitative methods

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