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3 Research methodology
Constructivism is based on the assumption that individuals seek
understanding of the world in which they live and work. The goal of
constructivist research is to rely as much as possible on the participants’
views of the situation being studied. Researchers of advocacy and
participatory knowledge claims have pointed out that the post-positivist
assumptions imposed structural laws and theories that did not fit
marginalised individuals or groups, or did not adequately address issues of
social justice. These inquirers also felt that the constructivist stance did not
sufficiently advocate an action agenda to help marginalised peoples. Thus,
they concluded, research should include an action agenda for reform that
may change the lives of participants and the institutions in which people
work or live (Creswell, 2003). Creswell (2003) also stated that pragmatism
provides an alternative basis for knowledge claims. Pragmatism (especially
the mixed methods research approach) is not committed to any particular
system of philosophy and reality. Johnson and Onwuegbuzie (2004)
emphasised that philosophically the mixed method originates from the socalled
third research movement, avoiding the paradigm wars by offering a
logical and practical alternative. Mixed method inquiry includes the use of
induction (e.g. discovery of patterns), deduction (testing theories and
hypotheses) and abduction (uncovering and relying on the best of a set of
explanations for understanding one’s results). In practice, pragmatists do
not see the world as an absolutely unity. Therefore, individual researchers
have freedom to choose the research methods, techniques and procedures
that appear to best meet their needs and purposes.
According to advocates of mixed method research, truth is what appears
to pertain to given phenomena at given times and places, and they may use
both qualitative and quantitative data to obtain the best apparent
understanding of a research problem. Pragmatist researchers hold that
research always occurs in social, historical, political and other contexts.
They believe that we need to stop asking questions about reality and the
laws of nature. Thus, for the researcher using mixed methods, pragmatism
opens opportunities to exploit multiple methods, diverse worldviews,
diverse assumptions and diverse forms of data collection and analysis
(Creswell, 2003). The overall purpose and main premise of mixed methods
is that use of combinations of quantitative and qualitative approaches may
provide a better understanding of research problems than either alone. This
is particularly pertinent to entrepreneurship studies, since as Molina-
Azorin (2012) pointed out, researchers need to address the context of the
studied phenomena and account for its complexity, uniqueness and
richness. In this respect, studies using mixed methods may help in
contextualising entrepreneurship research.
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