Mixed Method Approach
Mixed Method Approach
In the social sciences field research does not usually change society away. The social sciences research impact on making things in society often happens over a long time.. In a lot of cases people think that being really good at academics is more important than actually making a difference, in the social sciences.
People and societies are always changing. Social problems are changing too. Researchers try to figure out what is happening. They use ideas and methods to understand these changes. As they do this what we know about the world changes a bit. The basics of science stay the same but they look different as time goes on. That is why we see the ideas in social science over and over. For example social science researchers do a lot of studies on womens agency and empowerment through feminism. There are hundreds of these studies. Most of them do not really say anything. They are just looking at ideas again. Social science is, like that. The same ideas get repeated in science. When you look at the world using Gramscis ideas about who has power or Marxism you see the things over and over: power, who is in charge how minorities are treated and how society is divided into different levels.
The people in charge may. The ones being controlled may change, but the basic ideas of power and social hierarchies stay the same and that is what Gramscis hegemonic theory and Marxism are really, about: power and social hierarchies.
Social sciences are different from sciences because they do not give us instant answers. The value of sciences is that they help us think about things in new ways and they slowly make our lives better.
This is where using methods together can be really helpful.
When we use a mixed methods approach we use both numbers and peoples stories to understand things.
This approach is very useful because it helps us think outside the box it stops us from doing the thing over and over and it gives us new ideas about social sciences and how they can contribute to social welfare.
Social sciences are important. They can really make a difference, in our lives when we use a mixed methods approach to study them.
Literature and arts are different from fields because they do not always involve doing the same thing over and over. In literature and arts people often take ideas. Make them more general. But this also leaves space for new ideas to come up.
Imagine you are reading a book and you use literature and philosophy and political science and psychology to understand it.
When you look at something from different viewpoints, like this it can help you think of new things and see things in a completely new way. Literature and arts can really benefit from this kind of approach.
If we only think about things in the way we will probably keep saying the same things. Look at inflation. It happened in the century and it is happening again in the 21st century. Just because we write about inflation in the century and inflation, in the 21st century does not mean we will come up with something new. The difference is that the world is different now. The global economy is different. Society is different. Politics is different. All these changes give us ideas. If we combine economics with politics and the way people think about politics our research will be about many different things and that will give us new ways of thinking about inflation and the global economy and society and politics.
Of course, such research is not easy. Challenging established global structures and creating truly innovative work takes courage—but it’s necessary. This kind of work, after all, is central to postcolonial studies.
