Mixed-Methods: To Answer Complex Questions in Labor Studies in Social Sciences

MENDIZÁBAL, NORA; CHERNOBILSKY, LILIA

Urbana-Champaign USA

Congreso; Ninth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry; 2013

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Research styles are subordinated to complex questions, practical purposes, and the interdisciplinary nature of team members. In Labor Studies, in order to increase the understanding of issues, the polysemic term ?mixed methods? is often discussed, along with the application of this approach respecting each paradigm. Particularly, in a past study about the relationship between working conditions and health status of telephone call center agents, subjective perception of this relationship was investigated through interviews, collages and participant observation. Objective aspects were collected by document reading, photos, and videos, plus measurements of the physical environment and anthropometric characteristics of workstations. The survey captured problem dimensions, as well as causal relationships. The analysis was assisted by specific software for quantitative and qualitative data (SPSS-ATLAS.ti). In sum, it?s another trace in the sand, as Denzin and colleagues encouraged to make in 2011, providing a theme, interdisciplinarity and an integration model, as two conic helices.