It is common in qualitative research to interview for example patients and their partners or their health professionals to talk about the same topic and explore the perspectives of all the people involved in the issue under investigation. For example, interviewing people with a disability to talk about the support they receive from their health care professionals, at the same time interviewing health care professionals to talk about the support they offer to their disabled patients.
Many published papers show the authors have done this but it is rare to come across a paper that mentions the word triangulation in their methodology, or mixed methods.
I would love to hear the opinion of people working in this area of research regarding considering this form of research mixed methods or triangulation. I would also appreciate it if you shared resources talking about this type of research. thanks a lot.
The original metaphor for triangulation did not refer to three methods. Instead, it considered the extent to which the results from two methods converged (intersected), as in the sides of triangle meeting at a point.
The basis for this metaphor was navigation and map reading, where two independent sightings of a source could be used to locate the position of that source.
Triangulation in qualitative research is not considered mixed method research. Mixed method research exists when quantitative investigation of a given research topic is further complemented with the application of qualitative techniques.
Dear Margaret,
You question is not clear to me. Do you mean to ask whether data source triangulation should be ensured in mixed method research as it is normally known for qualitative research?
Combining two qualitative methods is usually know as multiple-methods or multi-methods. The label mixed methods is reserved for studies that have both a qualitative and a quantitative component.
Margaret Zurieki -Triangulation is to gain good understanding from different perspectives of an investigated phenomenon by using multiple methods or data sources in qualitative research. It is a qualitative research strategy to test validity through the convergence of information from different sources and its purpose is to increase the credibility and validity of the results. Please see Alan Bryman (Social Research Methods, Oxford) for further reference.
From my understanding, triangulation is the collection and comparison of data from multiple sources/methods, and can occur in both qualitative research and mixed methods research depending on the type of data being collected (qualitative only, or both qualitative and quantitative).
As others have mentioned, triangulation enhances the validity of qualitative research. Thus, it doesn't transform your qualitative strategy into a mixed method strategy. Consider a more detailed explication in Qualitative Research by Ravitch, S.M. and Carl, N.M. and Case study research: design and methods by Yin, R.K.
Hi Margaret,
in your example, I see neither triangulation nor mixed methods but simply combining data from different sources (interviewees) obtained by the same empirical method (interview) in a case study.
As David wrote, we would use 'mixed methods' for empirical approaches that combine qualitative and quantitative approaches.
'Triangulation' means using different methods, different data sources or different analysts to obtain the same empirical information in order to increase and confirm its consistency. See e.g. Module 77 in Patton, M. Q. (2014). Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. Fourth Edition. Newbury Park, Sage.
In my opinion, the two methods are complementary. The reseacher wants the have well-verified date.
En una investigación cualitativa puedes hacer triangulación de métodos, de fuentes de información, de técnicas, entre otras. El tipo de triangulación que decidas hacer dependen de las características de la investigación, en todo caso lo que se busca es dar sustento a la interpretación que realiza el investigador
I never use "triangulation" because i feel it refers to 3 methods.I prefer multi methods, a notion including several methods to obtain rich findings of the problems we approach. I am a qualitative researcher because women and gender studies require highly sensitive ways of obtaining information, in topics such as empowerment, violence, discrimination of all sorts, parenthood, marital unions,LGBTQ, among others.But i always compare my findings with national and international demographic and statistic data in order to know if they follow the same direction or contradict the overall quantitative information.
The original metaphor for triangulation did not refer to three methods. Instead, it considered the extent to which the results from two methods converged (intersected), as in the sides of triangle meeting at a point.
The basis for this metaphor was navigation and map reading, where two independent sightings of a source could be used to locate the position of that source.
The term triangulation indicates combining methods emerging from different paradigms. For e.g. combining survey (Quantitative Research Methodology) with that of oral history or in-depth interviews (IDIs). On the other hand, mixed methods indicates combining two or more methods from the same paradigm or different paradigms for the study. For e.g. Adoption of Focussed Group Discussions with nurses with that of illness narratives of patients in hospice care. In other words, all triangulation are mixed methods but not all mixed methods are triangulation.
Dear David and Sayendri: I appreciate your answers to my understanding of triangulation. We agree on the need to "intersect" more than one method, as well as different methodological paradigms. I disagree with Sayendri for "mixed methods" does not indicate using several methods from the same paradigm. Conveying statistic and demographic results with qualitative procedures surpasses this appreciation.
Triangulation refers to using two methods or procedures to measure one single variable or parameter, so that results will complement each other, and thus be more accurate or simply fill the gaps or fix some measurement error associated to one of such methods.
Mixed methods is the use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches/methods/data collection procedures in one single research project.
Multi methods refers to using several methods in one single project. Multi methods is often used to describe research projects that are all quantitative or else all qualitative, but some researchers will use multi method to mean mixed methods, and triangulation to mean multi method.
Marta Núñez- Sarmiento I agree with you that mixed methods has to include both qualitative and quantitative components. That is certainly the definition used by the editors of the Journal of Mixed Methods Research.
Many published papers show the authors have done this but it is rare to come across a paper that mentions the word triangulation in their methodology, or mixed methods.
Article Using a Multiphase Mixed Methods Triangulation Design to Mea...
Best regards
Ingrid García
Ingrid Del Valle García Carreño One reason you no longer see the word triangulation mentioned in mixed methods is because it has gone out of fashion, due to having too many different meanings. Indeed, the Journal of Mixed Methods Research no longer accepts articles that say they are based on triangulation.
Alternatively, the idea of triangulation is still relatively widely used in qualitative methods, where the agreement between two qualitative methods is seen as increasing the credibility of the results.
Triangulation is complementary to qualitative research. Triangulation ensures the trustworthiness of a qualitative study.
Please have a look into the following attached article entitled, "The Use of Triangulation in Qualitative Research." for better insight on triangulation.
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