title: Mixed Methods Research: The "Thing-ness" Problem.
abstract: Contemporary mixed methods research (MMR) veers away from a "loosely bounded" to a "bounded" concept that has important negative implications for how qualitatively driven mixed methods approaches are positioned in the field of mixed methods and overall innovation in the praxis of MMR. I deploy the concept of reification defined as taking an object/abstraction and treating it as if it were real such that it takes on the quality of "thing-ness," having a concrete independent existence. I argue that the contemporary reification of mixed methods as a "thing" is fueled by three interrelated factors: (a) the growing formalization of mixed methods as design, (b) the unexamined belief in the "synergy" of mixed methods and, (c) the deployment of a "practical pragmatism" as the "philosophical partner" for mixed methods inquiry.
authors.affiliation: Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA hesse@bc.edu.
authors.forename: Sharlene
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hesse-Biber
mesh_terms: D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D036301:Qualitative Research; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design
keywords: qualitative methods; qualitatively driven mixed methods; reification; triangulation