Modern research places enormous task on researchers to use more than one method that guarantee valid propositions. One of such measures is adopting theoretical triangulation from different fields with a view to making authenticated conclusions and propositions.
In the field of social sciences, triangulation is the use of more than one approach to the investigation of a research question so as to boost confidence in the ensuing results. By merging multiple methods, theories and observers, we can overcome the weakness and the problems that come from single method, single-observer and single-theory studies. As much social research is conducted on the use of a single research method and as such may suffer from limitations associated with that method or from the specific application of it, triangulation offers the prospect of enhanced confidence. Triangulation is considered one of the quite a few rationales for multi-method research. The term derives from surveying, where it refers to the use of a series of triangles to map out an area.
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Dear Anthony,
Triangulation is a mathematical tool taken from trigonometry used mainly in navigation. You need two points to be able to calculate how far is the ship from the harbor for example...The same principle is applied in humanities to consolidate the results of a research paper for example. All you need is two sources/methods and not three ( the concept of triangulation will be useless then from a mathematical point of view) in order to authenticate the validity of a proposal. The problem is that most researchers in humanities are not used to the basic laws of trigonometry and therefore tend to bring similar perspectives to consolidate their findings
I thank Dr. Mohammad Hamad Al-khresheh for his reference and his commentary. I wish to complete it on the literary and linguistic side. Your triangulation tools will depend of the nature of your data. Let's presume you will have linguistic data from texts or talk. The texts or transcription will be a first source. You will need a second source, that could come from an observation tool. Let's say the subjects were observed during their writing or discussing. It could also be an inquiry tool (a questionary). All these tools should intend to document the same phenomena, so that you will obtain two or three different point of views of the same reality.
A classic reference in Applied Linguistics is Tashakkori, A., & Teddlie, C. (2003). The past and future of mixed methods research: From data triangulation to mixed model design. In A. Tashakkori & C. Teddlie (Eds.), Handbook of mixed methods in social & behavioral research (pp. 671–701). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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