What is methodological pluralism Graham Crow ESRC Research

What is methodological pluralism? Graham Crow ESRC Research Methods Festival University of Bath, 3 -5 July 2018 NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 1

What is methodological pluralism? • First, what is pluralism? • To proponents, ‘acknowledgement of multiplicity and difference, … endorsement of different ways of knowing, … a suitably humble and relativistic acceptance that there is a range of cultural values’. • To critics, ‘lacking a coherent organizing “paradigm”’; the outlook of ‘the sort of person who does not really have clear opinions on anything’ (Mc. Lennan 1995: ix-2) NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 2

What is methodological pluralism? • According to proponents, pluralism leads to ‘fruitful methodological diversity’ (Mc. Lennan 1995: 3) • Methodological Pluralism: ‘No longer can there be only one style of social research with one method that is to be the method. Rathere are many’ (Bell and Newby 1977: 10, emphases in original) • ‘a rejection of methodological exclusiveness’ and of the related idea that there is only ‘one style of social research’ (Scott and Marshall 2009: 466) NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 3

What is methodological pluralism? • Methodological pluralism (MP) contrasted with ‘methodological exclusivism’ (Bell and Newby 1977: 10), ‘methodological closure’ (Mc. Lennan 1995: 68) and ‘methodological tribalism’ (Lamont and Swidler 2014: 154). ‘Methodological pluralism… is just the denial of methodological exclusivism’ (Roth 1987: 5) • For critics, MP risks ‘method slurring’ (Baker et al. 1992), and they reject the approach that ‘treats all methods as equal’ (Payne and Payne 2004: 149). NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 4

What is methodological pluralism? • Recognition of plurality of research methods that are available is wellestablished in textbooks. • The Webbs detailed ‘the methods of investigation used by us in our successive studies’ (1975 [1932]: xliii) NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 5

What is methodological pluralism? • ‘no single technique is adequate for the grasp of a situation of any depth and complexity’ (Madge 1953: 20) • Focus on documents, observation, the interview, and experiment NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 6

What is methodological pluralism? • ‘For most sorts of social research… more than one method must be used’ (Stacey 1969: 101). • Focus on documents, observation, asking questions (including surveys), and ‘combined operations’ NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 7

What is methodological pluralism? • 8 main types of study: Reviews/meta-analysis, qualitative, administrative records, ad hoc surveys, regular surveys, case studies, longitudinal studies, experiments. All have ‘strengths and limitations’ (Hakim 1987: xii) NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 8

What is methodological pluralism? • The case for MP is sufficiently long-standing for a ‘progress narrative’ to have developed in which the gap between qualitative and quantitative methods is said to be closing and it is claimed that ‘by pursuing a multi-methods approach we can best tackle the tasks of the social sciences in to-day’s society’. • But the reality is more complicated. ‘Methodological traditions vary across societies and they are also subject to fashion’ (Alasuutari et al. 2008: 3) NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 9

What is methodological pluralism? • The case for MP advanced by Bell and Newby four decades ago was made in an effort to broker a ceasefire in a period of hostilities described at the time as one in which ‘those at either end of the qualitative/quantitative continuum… sometimes display an intolerance, indeed bigotry, towards styles of research which do not accord with their own view of proper procedure’ (Bulmer 1977: x). NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 10

What is methodological pluralism? • Much has been written about these ‘paradigm wars’ (Bryman 2008 b includes an extensive bibliography). • For Williams and Vogt they were ‘a pointless and damaging episode in social research’. However, although the emergence of mixed methods moved debates beyond a quantitative/qualitative divide, the ‘fundamental quarrel about how we can know the social world’ has the potential to re-emerge and contest ‘methodological ecumenism’ (2011: 4 -6). NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 11

What is methodological pluralism? • Reinforces Bryman’s point that quantitative/ qualitative ‘détente’ sits alongside ‘the continued existence of paradigm disputes’ (2008 b: 23, 17) in other debates, including those between different qualitative researchers. • ‘There are signs that the paradigm wars have not entirely disappeared but have resurfaced in slightly different ways’ (2008 a: 625). NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 12

What is methodological pluralism? • Lamont and Swidler re-state the case for MP in the context of ‘a growing number of aggressive controversies among qualitative sociologists’ including ‘contests over who has the best method’. • They offer a defence of interviewing against the challenges from ethnographers characterised less by normal ‘constructive criticism’ than by the revived spirit of the ‘sectarian methodological fights’ of former decades (2014: 153 -5). NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 13

What is methodological pluralism? • Lamont and Swidler note in particular the misrepresentation of alternative approaches by advocates of a particular method, resting on belief in ‘some rock bottom “truth” that one method could capture that other methods cannot’ (2014: 156). • Such critics selectively ‘focus on a rather traditional and fixed understanding of interviewing’ (2014: 156). This resonates with how ‘old’ and ‘new’ were contrasted during the period of paradigm wars. NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 14

What is methodological pluralism? • e. g. the New Paradigm Research Group Manifesto was critical of ‘the old paradigm’ of ‘conventional research’ which suffered from ‘one-sided objectivity’, contrasted with ‘new paradigm research’ which ‘involves a much closer relationship than that which is usual between the researcher and the researched’; ‘the right kind of research’ is superior to ‘the wrong kind of research’ (New Paradigm Research Group London 2011: 92 -4, orig. c. 1979) NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 15

What is methodological pluralism? • Echoes in recent claims that ‘the participatory turn’ in research is creating ‘a new knowledge landscape’ brought about by ‘advocates for a new knowledge landscape [who are] actively committed to fighting for what they see as more inclusive and democratic research practices’ (Facer and Enright 2016: 50). • There is exhortation to ‘fight for academia as a space in which to co-produce’ (Bell and Pahl 2018: 114), confronting ‘positivists’ (Durose et al. 2011: 4) NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 16

What is methodological pluralism? • Advocating one correct way to proceed methodologically has a poor track record. • Becker’s complaints about methodologists’ capacity to ‘proselytize’ and ‘preach a “right way” to do things’ (1971: 4) have parallels with Lamont and Swidler’s objections to ‘sectarian methodological fights’ (2014: 153). • Developing the comparison with religion, Becker was sceptical of the ‘salvation’ on offer. NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 17

What is methodological pluralism? • MP rests on acknowledging that ‘Our methods all have blind spots’ (Lamont and Swidler 2014: 160). • Put another way, ‘no one has a key to fit all locks’ (Rodinson 1977: viii). • Pragmatic perspective – methods employed according to the task in hand the results that they produce, rather than agendas being driven by ‘research purists’ (Maxcy qtd in Bryman 2008 b: 19) wedded to an exclusive epistemology. NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 18

What is methodological pluralism? • For Lamont and Swidler, ‘Building bridges, not digging deep moats, is the key to fostering a strong field’. ‘Pluralistic coexistence’ fosters dialogue and ‘innovative methodological cross-fertilization’ in the spirit of ‘openness’ and ‘constructive criticism’ (2014: 167, 153 -5; see also Mason and Dale (2011)) • Contrasts with attitudes of members of dominant cultures who ‘simply assume that you are doing what they are doing, only badly’ (Luker 2008: 40). NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 19

What is methodological pluralism? • Combining ethnography and experiments, Nettle demonstrates how the ‘widespread view that there are two different classes of methods, quantitative and qualitative’ is ‘unhelpful’ (2015: 28). (See also Nettle and Hillyard 2016. ) NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 20

What is methodological pluralism? • Such examples of individual researchers putting MP into practice go beyond simple ‘tolerance of a variety of methods’ (Payne et al. 2004: 153). • Whether putting MP into practice will become more common will be shaped by a number of contextual factors, including the training that people receive, and organizational factors affecting career paths (May 2005; Payne et al. 2005) NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 21

What is methodological pluralism? • Academic discipline also matters. References above are disproportionately from sociology, but factors promoting or working as obstacles to MP are more general. Lamont found the view that ‘different methods serve different purposes’ (2010: 133) widely-held among assessors in 12 disciplines. • And, last but not least, MP sits well with humility. • ‘You… cannot afford to snoot methods that can be very useful to you in their place’ (Luker 2008: 41) NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 22

References • • Alasuutari, P. , Brannen, J. and Bickman, L. (2008) ‘Social research in changing social conditions’ in P. Alasuutari, L. Bickman and J. Brannen (eds) The Sage Handbook of Social Research Methods London: Sage, pp. 1 -8. Baker, C. , Wuest, J. , Stern, P. (1992) ‘Method slurring: the grounded theory/ phenomenology example’ Journal of Advanced Nursing 17(1) pp. 1355 -60 Becker, H. (1971) Sociological Work: Method and Substance London: Allen Lane. Bell, C. and Newby, H. (1977) ‘Introduction: The Rise of Methodological Pluralism’, in C. Bell and H. Newby (eds) Doing Sociological Research London: George Allen and Unwin, pp. 9 -29. Bell, D. and Pahl, K. (2018) ‘Co-production: towards a utopian approach’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology 21(1) pp. 105 -17. Bryman, A. (2008 a) Social Research Methods Oxford: Oxford University Press, 3 rd edn. Bryman, A. (2008 b) ‘The End of the Paradigm Wars? ’ in P. Alasuutari, L. Bickman and J. Brannen (eds) The Sage Handbook of Social Research Methods London: Sage, pp. 13 -25. Bulmer, M. (ed. ) (1977) Sociological Research Methods London: Macmillan. NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 23

References • • Durose, C. , Beebeejaun, Y. , Rees, J. , Richardson, J. and Richardson. L. (2011) Towards Co-production in Research with Communities https: //ahrc. ukri. org/documents/projectreports-and-reviews/connected-communities/towards-co-production-in-research-withcommunities/ Elliott, J. (2005) Using Narrative in Social Research London: Sage. Facer, K. and Enright, B. (2016) Creating Living Knowledge: The Connected Communities Programme, community-university partnerships and the participatory turn in the production of knowledge, Bristol: University of Bristol/AHRC Connected Communities. Gomm, R. (2009) Key Concepts in Social Research Methods Basingstoke: Palgrave. Hakim, C. (1987) Research Design London: Unwin Hyman. Lamont, M. (2010) How Professors Think: Inside the Curious World of Academic Judgement Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press. Lamont, M. and Swidler, A. (2014) ‘Methodological Pluralism and the Possibilities and Limits of Interviewing’, Qualitative Sociology 37, pp. 153 -71. NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 24

References • • • Luker, K. (2008) Salsa Dancing into the Social Sciences: Research in an Age of Info-glut Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press. Mc. Lennan, G. (1995) Pluralism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Madge, J. (1953) The Tools of Social Science London: Longmans. Mason, J. and Dale, A. (eds) (2011) Understanding Social Research: Thinking Creatively about Method London: Sage. May, C. (2005) ‘Methodological Pluralism, British Sociology and the Evidence-based State: A reply to Payne et al. ’ Sociology 39(3), pp. 519 -28. Nettle, D. (2015) Tyneside Neighbourhoods Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. Nettle, D. and Hillyard, S. (2016) ‘Experiments and ethnography’ http: //www. socsciscotland. ac. uk/skills_and_training/methods_resources/videos/experiment s_and_ethnography New Paradigm Research Group London (2011) ‘New Paradigm Research Manifesto’ in A. Cornwall (ed. ) The Participation Reader London: Zed Books, pp. 92 -4. Payne, G. and Payne, J. (2004) Key Concepts in Social Research London: Sage. NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 25

References • • Payne, G. , Williams, M. and Chamberlain, S. (2004) ‘Methodological Pluralism in British Sociology’, Sociology 38(1) pp. 153 -63. Payne, G. , Williams, M. and Chamberlain, S. (2005) ‘Methodological, British Sociology and the Evidence-based State: A reply to May’, Sociology 39(3), pp. 529 -33. Rodinson, M. (1977) Islam and Capitalism Harmondsworth: Penguin. Roth, P. (1987) Meaning and Method in the Social Sciences Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Scott, J. and Marshall, G. (2009) ‘Methodological pluralism’, in A Dictionary of Sociology Oxford: Oxford University Press 3 rd edn Stacey, M. (1969) Methods of Social Research Oxford: Pergamon. Webb, S. and Webb, B. (1975[1932]) Methods of Social Study Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Williams, M. and Vogt, W. (2011) ‘Introduction: Innovation in Social Research Methods’ in M. Williams and W. Vogt (eds) The Sage Handbook of Innovation in Social Research Methods London: Sage, pp. 1 -16. NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 26