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Are Humanism and Mixed Methods Related? Leibniz's Universal (Chinese) Dream

Journal of Mixed Methods Research

Published online on

Abstract

According to Guba and Lincoln, renunciation of mixed methods is characteristic of a moribund culture with the possible exception of human sciences. The question I raise here is whether a person can be considered a humanist only if he or she mixes methods, and I analyze Leibniz’s search for a universal system of justice to test this hypothesis. Considering the difference between a methodology and a mere approach, I also consider the issue of whether acquiring knowledge of any methodology always entails an approach. I stress the relationship between the concepts of "paradigm" and "culture" as a set of habits linked to mixed methods, and I conclude with an explanation of how mixing methods can be first sequential and, then, concurrent.