Academic Research in Social Sciences

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

The practice of research in the social sciences is a disciplinary construct that has emerged over the past thirty years. As shown by reviews of recent methodological developments, social research proved insufficiently effective when using only one scientific approach. Successful sociological research may often require recourse to disciplines that are in the gray zone relative to the social sciences or are completely unrelated to them.

An example of establishing the causes of low fertility in Europe in the twentieth century seems quite typical here (Greene, 2018). Using purely socioeconomic scientific instruments, the researchers found them insufficient to fully explain the social phenomenon. By applying cultural theory and considering this problem from several angles the decline in fertility received an adequate and more complete explanation. This example demonstrates the possibility and sometimes the need for a mixed approach in social research.

In an article on mixed methodology, Greene attempts to describe this method not as dialectical but as clearly structured (2018, p. 10). Four scientific dimensions are provided, combining which the researcher can carry out the most complete and accurate social analysis. At the same time, it is not so much a combination of disciplines that is important as different methods and approaches to research. The philosophical, scientific attitude appears to be the first and fundamental, providing a framework for further research. Greene then describes the second stage of the study, that is, the logic of questioning (p. 13). After this phase of research is the selection of a methodology in terms of not philosophy but practical relevance and feasibility.

The third fundamental element of mixed sociological research is the direct approach to combining various methods. For the sociologist practicing mixed media research, an understanding of the basic rules for combining scientific methods in such a way as to combine the strongest aspects of the disciplines used is required. In this regard, resorting to practical guidelines regulating the use of methodologies helps not only to combine knowledge but also to turn research into a step-by-step process.

The value of the study and its philosophical relevance is the final principle for creating a study with a mixed methodology. Sociological research using this approach demonstrates significant results in the field of family therapy, in particular, in working with adolescents. With the help of a mixed as well as a quantitative approach, as the researchers note, it became feasible to trace and compare the statistical results of family therapy as closely and clearly as possible (Christenson & Gutierrez, 2016). The innovativeness of this type of research is noted in the fact that a mixed approach is able to give a voice to those who did not have it before; that is, it has a liberating, emancipating role. The great moral benefit of the mixed approach is expressed in the fact that this technique is able to shed light on those facts or theoretical and practical constructions that could not have been revealed earlier due to the lack of effectiveness of one disciplinary lens.

Finally, it should be noted that the value of this approach is seen not so much in the creation of new and specific scientific structures but in the ability to hear and understand something new. This method is aimed at generating new information and at obtaining potentially new optics under which one can look at scientific and social problems. Therefore, the mixed method seems to be so promising in sociology, demonstrating certain flexibility and fluidity inherent in the diversity and variability of the modern world.

References

Christenson, J. D., & Gutierrez, D. M. (2016). Using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research to promote family therapy with adolescents in residential settings. Contemporary Family Therapy, 38(1), 52–61. Web.

Greene, J. C. (2008). Is mixed methods social inquiry a distinctive methodology? Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 2(1), 7–22. Web.

Click Here To Order Now!

References

Related