Mixed Methods and Case Studies

PhD Course for social science candidates. University of Bergen, April 23-26 2012
Mixed Methods and Case Studies
Course description:
The course focuses on several different aspects of mixed methods research in the social
sciences with particular reference to case studies. The term 'case study' has many meanings.
Sometimes it refers to a specific research design with accompanying methods for data collection
and analysis. In other instances it is used synonymously with ethnographic studies, fieldwork, or
just qualitative methods. For this course we have chosen to explore a variety of ways of using
case studies in studying micro or macro social phenomena. Topics that will be discussed include:
considerations and rationales for making use of more than one data source or method of data
collection; designing mixed methods case studies; and ways of integrating data at the analysis
stage. Epistemological and methodological issues in combining methods are approached
from different viewpoints with examples from lecturers’ research. In addition, new
developments in mixed methods research and issues around quality criteria in assessing mixed
methods and case studies are examined.
Participants are invited to present and discuss outline of papers about methodological issues
related to their own studies. All the lecturers will take part during the whole course and will
discuss candidates' papers in group sessions.
Candidates who submit a final version of their paper for approval by September 1st 2012 will
get 10 credits for full course participation and an approved paper. The reading list is
approximately 700 pages. A compendium will be available at the Department of Sociology in
March 2012.
Lunch and one dinner included in the course.
The deadline for registration for the course is February 1st 2012. Candidates enrolled in a PhDProgramme are given priority. Deadline for submission of abstract is March 1st 2012.
Registration:
Candidates enrolled in a PhD programme at the University of Bergen can sign up for the course
using Studentweb. External candidates can register by email to [email protected]
Please include your full name, your institution affiliation and whether you are enrolled in a PhDProgramme. Please also indicate whether you will present a paper and if so, a preliminary title
of your paper. We also need to know whether you will join us for dinner on Monday April 23rd
Academic contact person: Prof. Ann Nilsen ([email protected])
Lecturers:
Julia Brannen is Professor of Sociology of the Family in the Institute of Education, University of
London. She has written on methodological issues including: Mixing Methods: Qualitative and
quantitative research (1992 Gower) and The Handbook of Social Research (Sage 2008). She is a
contributor to the Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social and Behavioural Research (Sage,
2010), Seale et al’s Qualitative Research in Practice (2004 Sage) Advances in Mixed Methods
Research. Theories and Applications (2008 Sage) and Mixed methods research for nursing and
the health sciences (2009 Blackwell). Her interests also extend to biographical research
methods and comparative cross national methods. She is a cofounder and co-editor of the
International Journal of Social Research Methodology(Website: www.tandf.co.uk). Her
substantive research focuses on families, the relation between paid work and family life and
intergenerational relations. Her most recent book is Lewis, S, Brannen, J and Nilsen, A (2009)
Work, Families and Organisations in Transition: European Perspectives Bristol: Policy Press
Alan Bryman is Professor of Organisational and Social Research in the School of Management,
University of Leicester, England. His main research interests lie in research methodology,
leadership studies, organizational analysis, the process of Disneyization, and theme parks. He is
author or coauthor of many books, including Quantity and Quality in Social Research
(Routledge, 1988), Charisma and Leadership in Organizations (Sage, 1992), Disney and his
Worlds (Routledge, 1995), Quantitative Data Analysis with IBM SPSS 17, 18 and 19: A Guide for
Social Scientists (Routledge, 2011), Social Research Methods (Oxford University Press, 2001,
2004, 2008, 2012), Business Research Methods (Oxford University Press, 2003, 2007, 2011), and
The Disneyization of Society (Sage, 2004). He is a coeditor of The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social
Science Research (Sage, 2003), the Handbook of Data Analysis (Sage, 2004), the SAGE Handbook
of Organizational Research Methods (Sage, 2009), and the SAGE Handbook of Leadership (Sage,
2011).
Lars Mjøset is professor of sociology and director of The Oslo Summer School for Comparative
Social Science Studies, both at the University of Oslo, Norway. His main fields of research have
been political economy and macro-historical comparisons: of the Nordic countries, of small
European countries and of international hegemonies and state systems. He has published
articles and monographs on the Nordic countries, on Ireland compared with five other small
European economies, and articles on the employment performance of Western European
welfare states, on the history of environmental problems and on types of military conscription
systems in Europe in a historical perspective. He has recently also engaged with philosophy of
science questions centred on the role of theory in social science, with particular attention to
how the notion of grounded theory can be of relevance to macro-oriented, comparative
studies. For a full list of publications, see
http://www.sv.uio.no/iss/personer/vit/larsmj/index.html.
Ann Nilsen is Professor of sociology at the Department of Sociology, University of Bergen. Her
fields of expertise are general sociological theory and methodology and life course and
biographical research. She has carried out a number of empirical studies and participated in
cross-national teams in studies of young people’s transition to adulthood and young Europeans’
transition to parenthood. Her publications include the co-edited books Futures in Transition:
Young Europeans Work and Family (2002) and Work Families and Organisations
in Transition: European Perspectives (2009) and Transitions to Parenthood in Europe: a
comparative life course perspective (forthcoming). She has also contributed to methods texts
including Handbook of Social Research (Sage, 2008) and Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social
and Behavioural Research (Sage, 2010), and published articles in scientific journals.
Course Programme
rd
Monday April 23
09.30-10.15
10.15-12.00
12.00-13.15
13.15-15.00
15.00-15.15
15.15-17.00
19.30
Registration, coffee/tea
Developments in mixed methods research
Prof. Alan Bryman
Lunch
Considerations in choice of methods and examples of combining methods
Prof. Julia Brannen
Coffee/ tea
Group seminars and paper presentations
Dinner
Tuesday April 24th
10.15-12.00
12.00-13-15
13.15-15.00
15.00-15-15
15.15-17.00
Contextualism, mixed methods and macro-sociology
Prof. Lars Mjøset
Lunch
Mixing methods in life course and biographical research: an overview
Prof. Ann Nilsen
Coffee/tea
Group seminars and paper presentations
Wednesday April 25th
10.15-12.00
12.00-13.15
13.15-15.00
15.00-15.15
15.15-17.00
The methodology of macro-comparative modelling
Prof. Lars Mjøset
Lunch
Linking a qualitative study to a national survey
Prof. Julia Brannen
Coffee/tea
Group seminars and paper presentations
Thursday April 26th
10.15-12.00 Quality Criteria and Mixed Methods Research.
Prof. Alan Bryman
12.00-13.00 Lunch
13.00-15.00 Plenary discussion
Readings:
Alexander, V.; Thomas, H.; Cronin, A.; Fielding, J.; Moran-Ellis, J (2008) 'Mixed methods' in N.
Gilbert (ed) Researching Social Life 3rd edition. London: Sage
38 pp
Bagnoli, A. (2004) ‘Researching Identities with Multi-method Autobiographies’ Sociological
Research Online, 9 (2): http://www.socresonline.org.uk/9/2/bagnoli.html
Bazeley, P. (2002). ‘The Evolution of a Project Involving an Integrated Analysis of Structured
Qualitative and Quantitative Data: From N3 to NVivo’, International Journal of Social Research
Methodology, 5 (3): 229-243
14 pp
Bergman, Manfred Max (ed). 2008 Advances in mixed methods research : theories and
applications. London Sage
192 pp
Brannen, J. (ed) 1995 Mixing methods: qualitative and quantitative research. Aldershot: Avebury
175 pp
Brannen, J. 2005 Mixing Methods: The Entry of Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches into
the Research Process in International Journal of Social Research Methodology 8 (3) pp. 173-184
12 pp
Bryman, Alan 2006 Paradigm Peace and the Implications for Quality in International Journal of
Social Research Methodology 9(2) pp. 111-126
16 pp
Bryman, Alan; Saul Becker; Joe Sempik 2008 Quality Criteria for Quantitative, Qualitative and
Mixed Methods Research: A View from Social Policy in International Journal of Social Research
Methodology 11(4) pp 261 – 276
16 pp
Bryman, Alan 2008: The End of the Paradigm Wars? In Alasutaari, Pertti, Bickman, Leonard og
Brannen, Julia The SAGE Handbook of Social Research Methods, London: Sage 13 pp
Bryman, Alan (2012) Social Research Methods 4th edition, Oxford University Press; chapter 3 on
research designs (including case study), chapter 27 on mixed methods research, and chapter 29
on writing up research (section on writing up mixed methods research)
Burke R. Johnson and Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie Mixed Methods Research: A Research Paradigm
Whose Time Has Come in Educational Researcher, Vol. 33, No. 7, pp. 14–26
13 pp
Coxon, T. (2005). 'Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Data: What Does the User Need?'
FQS (Forum: Qualitative Social Research). 6 (2): e-paper. http://www.qualitativeresearch.net/fqs/fqs-eng.htm.
10 pp
Cronin; A. Alexander, V.; Fielding, J.; Moran-Ellis, J. and Thomas, H. (2008) 'The Analytic
Integration of Qualitative Data Sources' in P. Alasuutari; L.Bickman; J.Brannen: The Sage
Handbook of Social Research Methods. Page: 572 572-584. London: Sage 13 pp
DeSoucey, M. (2010) ‘Gastronationalism : Food Traditions and Authenticity Politics in the
European Union’, American Sociological Review, 75(3): 432-55.
Dicks, B., Soyinka, B., and Coffey, A. ‘Multimodal ethnography’ Qualitative Research 6(1): 77-96
19 pp
Eisenhardt, K.M. (1989): 'Building theories from case study research'. In Academy of
Management Review, 14, pp. 532-50. (18)
Fey, Carl F. •Daniel R. Denison Organizational Culture and Effectiveness: Can American Theory
Be Applied in Russia? Organization Science Vol. 14, No. 6, November–December 2003, pp. 686–
706
21 pp
Fielding, Jane and Fielding, Nigel Synergy and Synthesis: Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative
Data i Alasutaari, P, Bickman, L and Brannen, J. The SAGE Handbook of Social Research
Methods, London: Sage
17 pp
Greene, Jennifer C.; Valerie J. Caracelli; Wendy F. Graham Toward a Conceptual Framework for
Mixed-Method Evaluation Designs Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Vol. 11, No. 3.
(Autumn, 1989), pp. 255-274.
20 pp
Hammersley, Martin 2008 “Assessing Validity in Social Research” i Alasutaari, Pertti, Bickman,
Leonard og Brannen, Julia The SAGE Handbook of Social Research Methods, London: Sage 12 pp
Kelle, U. (2001). 'Sociological Explanations Between Micro and Macro and the Integration of
Qualitative and Quantitative Methods,' FQS (Forum: Qualitative Social Research), 2 (1): e-paper.
http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/fqs-eng.htm
22 pp
Laub, J.H., and Sampson, R.J. (2004), ‘Strategies for Bridging the Quantitative and Qualitative
Divide: Studying Crime Over the Life Course’, Research in Human Development, 1: 81-99.
19 pp
Mjøset, L. 2009 “The contextualist approach to social science methodology”, pp. 39-68 in D.
Byrne & C. C. Ragin, editors, Handbook of Case-based Methods, London: Sage pp. 39-68.
Mjøset, L. 2006 “A case-study of a case-study. Strategies of generalization and specification in
the study of Israel as a single case.” International Sociology 21(5): 735-766
Mjøset, L. 2009 ”The art of macro-qualitative modelling” in Wolfgang Drechsler, Rainer Kattel &
Erik S. Reinert, (eds). Techno-Economic Paradigm Shifts: Essays in Honor of Carlota Perez.
London – New York – Delhi: Anthem Press pp. 239-269.
Morgan, D.L. (1998) ‘Practical strategies for combining qualitative and quantitative methods:
Applications for health research’, Qualitative Health Research, 8 (3): 362–376.
15 pp
Nash, R. (2002). ‘Numbers and Narratives: Further Reflections in the Sociology of Education,’
British Journal of Sociology of Education. 23 (3): 397-412
15 pp
Nilsen, Ann “From Questions of Methods to Epistemological Issues: The Case of Biographical
Research i Alasutaari, Pertti, Bickman, Leonard og Brannen, Julia The SAGE Handbook of Social
Research Methods, London: Sage
14 pp
Nilsen A and J Brannen (2010) “The Use of Mixed Methods in Biographical Research” in Abbas T
and C Teddlie SAGE Handbook of Mixed Methods Research 2nd edition. London: Sage pp. 677696
O’Cathain, Alicia, Elizabeth Murphy1, Jon Nicholl The quality of mixed methods studies in health
services research
7 pp
Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J; Nancy L. Leech On Becoming a Pragmatic Researcher: The Importance
of Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methodologies in International Journal of
Social Research Methodology 8 (5) pp. 375 – 387
13 pp
Parmar, Parminder ,Giovanna Axia, Jesús Palacios and Charles M. Super Sara Harkness, Ughetta
Moscardino, Moisés Ríos Bermúdez, Piotr Olaf Zylicz, Barbara Welles-Nyström, Marjolijn Blom,
Parents, Children, and Schools: Mixed Mixed Methods in International Collaborative Research’
in Cross-Cultural Research 2006; 40; 65
18 pp
Pawson, R. (1995) ‘Quality and quantity, agency and structure, mechanism and context, dons
and cons,’ BMS, Bulletin de Methodologie Sociologique, 47: 5-48
43 pp
Poortinga, Wouter*, Karen Bickerstaff, Ian Langford, Jörg Niewöhner and Nivk Pidgeon : The
British 2001 Foot and Mouth crisis: a comparative study of public risk perceptions, trust and
beliefs about government policy in two communities . Journal of Risk Research
18 pp
Radley, A. and K. Chamberlain (2001): ‘Health psychology and the study of the case:
from method to analytic concern’. In Social Science and Medicine, 53, pp.
321-32.
Sale, J.E.M.; Lohfeld, L.H. and Brazil, K. (2002). ‘Revisiting the Quantitative-Qualitative Debate:
Implications for Mixed-Methods Research,’ Quality and Quantity, 36 (1): 43-53
Silva, Elizabeth, Warde, Alan, and Wright, David (2009) ‘Using mixed methods for analysing
culture: the cultural capital and social exclusion project’, Cultural Sociology, 3(2): 299-316.
Truscott, Diane M. et al. (2010) ‘A cross-disciplinary examination of the prevalence of mixed
methods in educational research: 1995-2005’, International Journal of Social Research
Methodology, 13(4): 317-28.

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