Pragmatism as a Supportive Paradigm for the Mixed Research Approach: Conceptualizing the Ontological, Epistemological, and Axiological Stances of Pragmatism

Abstract

The emergence of the mixed research approach has been accompanied by searching for a philosophy that legitimates mixing quantitative and qualitative methods in one research. Many researchers consider pragmatism as the most common philosophical justification for the mixed research approach; however, pragmatism is criticized as a philosophy in general and also as philosophical support for the mixed research approach especially for not addressing the differing assumptions of the quantitative and qualitative paradigms. Trying to overcome this criticism, the current research is mainly concerned with presenting pragmatism as a coherent, integrated paradigm by conceptualizing its ontological, epistemological and axiological stances. The researcher coins three new terminologies: the reality cycle, the double-faced knowledge, and the necessary bias principle. These philosophical stances combine both the quantitative and qualitative paradigms' points of view as two integrated, not conflicting philosophies.