Research Methodology in the Social SciencesA Pragmatic Approach to Research in the Social Sciences

The monograph is a significant contribution to an integrative approach to research in the social sciences. Its starting point is the integration of theoretical and practical approaches in planning and carrying out a research study. It offers a different, original view of research that bridges the gaps between positivist and phenomenological approaches. The philosophical approaches in the introductory part are the basis for integrating quantitative and qualitative methods in the pragmatic setting of mixed methods research.

In the first part, the author explains the action approach to research, which developed over a long period and was often criticised by those who assumed that research can only be positive, based on consistent observation and quantification of the observed phenomenon. The second part focuses on mechanisms – methodological approaches for finding scarce sources and data – and links them with theorising, a method for finding, collecting, analysing and integrating data from diverse and complex sources.

The central theme is a pragmatic approach to research. The author presents and connects the methods with which a researcher identifies a research gap and defines a research problem, and explains why theorising or inquiry is the right method for dealing with complex sources and data. Pointing out that different views of the real world still spark paradigm wars in methodology, he tries to bridge the gap between the idealist and rationalist views with a combined, mixed-methods perspective and practical examples of integrating research methods.

He also stresses the need for systematic research design as a learning process that keeps creating new insights, in which experience and habits shape the researcher’s gaze. Diagrams, models and schemes highlight the action approach, and practical examples from empirical studies explain some multi-level methodological approaches.

The book is written for everyone who does research at a lay, professional or scientific level, and for anyone facing complex problems about which little is known and information must be gathered by combining different action research methods.