I'm currently employing a sequential mixed-methods approach, including an initial exploratory phase and a final explanatory phase. The initial phase is a qual -> QUANT, with the primary aim to understand the context of the stakeholders so as to design a context-specific surveillance system. The second phase is the collection of data through quantitative means and explaining it through the qualitative findings from the initial part, in other words integrating qualitative and quantitative findings. The third phase, i.e. the evaluation phase is a quant-> QUAL.
the question is: should I make use of a dialectic perspective, i.e. constructivism and post-positivism under the heading of pragmatism or should I explain this primarily from a pragmatism point of view, without considering the multiple paradigms?
Constructivism and post-positivism are generally considered to be conflicting world views, so I don't think it be wise to use them together, especially since a dialectical approach would be very non-traditional. In contrast, pragmatism views all methods as tools for producing knowledge, so what really matters is how use those tools to meet your goals.
But do you really need to get into the whole topic of paradigms? If you have a good design that will answer a meaningful question, then why get involved philosophical issues?
David L Morgan in my Ph.D., I need to include a 'research paradigm' section. I thought it would be best to make use of a dialectic approach since I was following the suggestion of Creswell (2018) - 'use constructivism for the qualitative component and postpositivism for the quantitative component if the strands are used sequentially'
Creswell is not an expert on paradigms, and his advice is likely to cause you trouble if someone wants to know how you used constructivism as a basis for posts-positivism and vice versa. In any event, this statement does not say anything about a "dialectical perspective."
If you want to stay out of trouble in addressing this topic, pragmatism is the safer choice.
David L Morgan i will definitely heed your advice! Many thanks for your insightful advice :)
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