Mixed Method Research Design:A preferable Approach in Management Studies

Disciplined inquiry about problems of organization and management requires decision to be taken about an appropriate research deign. In making such a decision, the researcher tacitly assumes a philosophical point of view or a research paradigm. There are four research paradigms which are the basis for the selection of research methodology and research methods. These paradigms include: a) positivism, b) interpretivism, c)critical theory, and d)post – structuralism. The basis of quantitative research methods is positivism, and of the qualitative research methods is the other three paradigms, as mentioned above. Due to the nature and complexity of problems in organizational and management settings, neither of the quantitative and qualitative research methods, alone, would be fully appropriate to investigate them thoroughly. Therefore, there has been a shift toward applying a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Such a combination is called mixed method research. Based on the above, first a review of the philosophical points of view (paradigms) which are the basis of research methods is made. Then characteristics of mixed method research are discussed. In doing so, a sample of journal articles which have applied mixed methods are examined and a typology of mixed methods are presented.