Triangulating qualitative approaches within mixed methods designs: A theory-driven proposal based on a French research in social health psychology

ABSTRACT

Currently qualitative research in psychology is underrepresented in the French academic setting; however, it has gained more importance over the past two decades. Within the context of the French academic setting, the aim of this article is to present the development of a theory-driven mixed method design in the critical health psychology approach and to demonstrate its contribution to the advancement of theoretical conceptualization. It proposes that triangulation, when viewed as a qualitative research strategy, should be considered as a meaningful research paradigm for designing mixed methods strategies in psychology. A methodological case, adopting a social representations approach to study medical decision making under uncertainty in oncology, will be used as an illustration, and the multiple triangulation strategy this case is based on will be fully described. The research will discuss how qualitative analyses contribute to empirically objectifying complex and dynamic psychosocial phenomena through the example of enhancement of the hypothesis of “cognitive polyphasia,” developed in the social representations theory, and how it is enabled by the design applied.

KEYWORDS:

• Qualitative methods
• triangulation
• mixed-methods design
• observations
• interviews
• social representations
• cognitive polyphasia
• medical decision making

Notes

¹ See the works of Yves Clot in occupational psychology, the work carried out on the sociogenetic approach of the social representations theory, and the works of Claude Revault d’Allone stemming from social clinical psyhchology cited by Bruchez, Roux, and Delefosse, (2017).