Mixed-Methods Research in the Study of Welfare States

• Published in: PS, political science & politics Vol. 50; no. 4; pp. 1028 - 1031
• Main Authors: Niedzwiecki, Sara, Nunnally, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01-10-2017
• Subjects: Bias; Capitalism; Case studies; Citations; Comparative analysis; Comparative politics; Data Analysis; Experiments; Intellectuals; International relations; Libraries; Methods; Mixed methods research; Political economy; Political science; Politics; Public policy; Qualitative research; Quantitative analysis; Research design; Research methodology; Scholars; Scholarship; Social policy; Social research; Social sciences; Sociology; State; Statistical analysis; Symposium: The Road Less Traveled: An Agenda for Mixed-Methods Research; The Profession; Theory formation; Welfare policy
• ISSN: 1049-0965; 1537-5935
• DOI: 10.1017/S1049096517001226

Incorporating multiple methodologies in a single research design has the potential to significantly advance knowledge. The combination of "qualitative" and "quantitative" methods in political science has become more diverse, including case studies, statistical analysis, formal models, Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), and experiments. In this study, we investigated specific ways in which scholars of welfare states combined research methodologies. We found that few published works incorporate mixed methods. We argue that this is a missed opportunity by analyzing the specific ways in which combining multiple methods can advance our understanding of welfare states. In doing so, this article contributes to the discussion of the actual use of mixed methods in the social sciences and the specific contributions that this can produce for the advancement of theory. We chose to study the scholarship on welfare states because of its breadth across subfields and disciplines, which makes it prone to the use of multiple methodologies. On one hand, it crosses a number of subfields in political science, including political economy, comparative politics, international relations, and American politics. On the other hand, the scholarship on welfare states extends beyond political science, incorporating sociology, economics, and public policy. In these ways, the findings in this article regarding the benefits of mixed methods for theory development and testing incorporate research in political science and the social sciences more broadly.