Really struggling and could do with advice please :) Can anyone point me in the right direction about the ontology of mixed methods research where a 'middle ground' is being adopted?

Thanks!

Hi Lemonjuice,

I am no expert on philosophy, however, I would say that given the nature of pragmatism and mixed methods, i.e. coming from a practical viewpoint, with the focus on the end goal, it would be impossible to capture an ontological position. Although the number of texts using epistemology and ontology as one and the same does not help.

If you want to read a very accessible book on pragmatism,. I would recommend Talisse and Aikin (2008) Pragmatism: A guide for the perplexed. In Chapter 2 they deal with this issue at considerable length. That really helped me. As my PhD was also mixed methods, based on pragmatism.

Best of luck.

I guess part of the problem is that philosophical assumptions are so contested. Different books seem to refer to different things in different ways. I've seem positivism labelled as an ontology in some places and as an epistemology in others.

I guess if your using mixed methods, your doing this with the aim of generating different aspects of the social world? If so, and if my understanding is correct, you would be some sort of realist. And there are many types of realism... Pragmatic realism, perhaps? I think this is what Paul Atkinson (ethnography) advocates.