Joint Research Techniques: Supplementation & Chaining
Supplementation in Research
Supplementation, in the context of joint research techniques, refers to adding to the results of one research approach with another that is considered secondary. The secondary approach strengthens the primary one. Examples of this include:
- Combining Discussion Groups and Expert Interviews: Discussion groups among average or central populations can be paired with qualitative interviews with experts. The interviews can familiarize researchers with the topic (if done early) or assess the design of the discussion groups.
- Survey Data and Secondary Source Analysis: After conducting a survey, researchers can consult and analyze secondary sources, such as official statistics, to reinforce the survey’s conclusions.
- Content Analysis with Discourse Analysis: Content analysis of media messages (quantitative) can be supplemented with discourse analysis (qualitative) to add specificity and insights.
- Surveys and Testimonial Interviews: Surveys can be combined with interviews to provide personal narratives. For example, a survey on the distribution of tasks at home could be supplemented with interviews with men and women from different social classes. The interview fragments serve as testimonial evidence, reinforcing the quantitative data.
It’s important to consider:
- The relevance of the report’s rhetoric.
- The frequent use of this articulation manner.
- The ongoing debate on how report format decisions influence research practices.
Supplementation represents a relatively low degree of joint research techniques, essentially adding other perspectives to the subject studied. Unlike chained articulation, which uses the results of one technique to make strategic decisions in another, supplementation maintains a design similar to complementation, giving a central role to one technique while the other remains peripheral.
Chained Joint Research Techniques
Chained articulation occurs when the results of one research technique are used to inform the design or execution of another. This approach is inherently diachronic, meaning techniques are performed sequentially. Subtypes of chained articulation include:
- Quantitative results informing the design of quantitative techniques.
- Qualitative results informing the design of qualitative techniques.
- Qualitative results informing the design of quantitative techniques.
- Quantitative results informing the design of qualitative techniques.
A common example is using statistics from official sources to design other techniques. When a qualitative technique informs a subsequent quantitative technique, the main functions of the qualitative technique are often not fully recognized when constructing a research design, whether quantitative or qualitative.