title: Mixed methods research design for pragmatic psychoanalytic studies.
abstract: Calls for more rigorous psychoanalytic studies have increased over the past decade. The field has been divided by those who assert that psychoanalysis is properly a hermeneutic endeavor and those who see it as a science. A comparable debate is found in research methodology, where qualitative and quantitative methods have often been seen as occupying orthogonal positions. Recently, Mixed Methods Research (MMR) has emerged as a viable "third community" of research, pursuing a pragmatic approach to research endeavors through integrating qualitative and quantitative procedures in a single study design. Mixed Methods Research designs and the terminology associated with this emerging approach are explained, after which the methodology is explored as a potential integrative approach to a psychoanalytic human science. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods are reviewed, as well as how they may be used in Mixed Methods Research to study complex human phenomena.
authors: Austen Riggs Center, Stockbridge, MA 01262, USA. jane.tillman@austenriggs.net
authors: Jane G
authors: JG
authors: Tillman
authors: A Jill
authors: AJ
authors: Clemence
authors: Jennifer L
authors: JL
authors: Stevens
mesh_terms: D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy; D012107:Research Design