Challenges of Multimethod and Mixed Methods Designs in Museum Research

Authors

  • Jennifer Eickelmann FernUniversität in Hagen
  • Nicole Burzan TU Dortmund

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-24.1.3988

Keywords:

museum, mixed methods, multimethods, temporality, comparability, inequality, power, method addition, method integration, situating

Abstract

In this article, we draw on two research projects on museums to present how we combined qualitative and quantitative methods (e.g. semi-structured interviews, non-standardised observations, focused ethnographies, ethnographic observations and conversations; standardised surveys and observations), which designs we used, and which opportunities and challenges we encountered. Given today's pluralised museum landscape, the research involved questions of whether and to what extent museums are oriented to offering experiences and which role museum guards play beyond their security function. We show how combining different methods can be particularly fruitful for examining fields characterised by a range of tensions from different perspectives. On the one hand, this allows us to grasp the (conflictual) interplay of different dimensions (actors, exhibition aesthetics, concepts, discourses), and on the other hand, we can broadly situate our objects of research and interpretations. The first challenge we discuss is the temporality of the empirical procedure, including questions of how linear and iterative approaches as well as procedures running in parallel and sequentially can be integrated. Secondly, we ask to what extent findings from different approaches and museums can be compared with each other during the analysis—broadly or deeply, with regard to the number of museums or dimensions.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Jennifer Eickelmann, FernUniversität in Hagen

Dr Jennifer EICKELMANN is assistant professor at the Faculty of Cultural and Social Sciences, FernUniversität in Hagen. She holds a PhD in media studies from the Institute of Media Studies of the Ruhr-University Bochum and was a long-standing research assistant in the field of social inequality and sociological museum research at TU Dortmund University. In her research, she focuses on the intersection of gender/queer media studies and the cultural sociology of social inequalities. She further develops transdisciplinary perspectives on digital cultures with a special focus on digital transformations of subjection as well as of cultural institutions, affective publics and digital forms of defiance and violence. She is co-editor of the open access book series "Digitale Kultur" [Digital Culture], Hagen University Press.

Nicole Burzan, TU Dortmund

Dr Nicole BURZAN is professor of sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences at TU Dortmund University. Her research interests are social inequalities, especially from a cultural sociological perspective, sociology of time, and empirical methods/mixed methods. Fields of application are e.g. middle classes, mobility of academics, landlords, musical taste and museums. From 2017 to 2019 she was president of the German Sociological Association. Since 2020 she is (founding) dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. She is co-editor of the book series "Standards standardisierter und nichtstandardisierter Sozialforschung" [Standards of Standardised and Non-Standardised Empirical Social Research], Beltz Juventa.

References

Abbott, Andrew (2001). Time matters. On theory and method. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Alexander, Victoria D. (2020). The sociology of the arts. Exploring fine and popular forms. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Barad, Karen (2007). Meeting the universe halfway. Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Durham: Duke University Press.

Baur, Nina (2019). Linearity vs. circularity? On some common misconceptions on the differences in the research process in qualitative and quantitative research. Frontiers in Education, 23(4), https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00053 [Accessed: December 07, 2022].

Bennett, Tony (1995). The birth of the museum: History, theory, politics. London: Routledge.

Bourdieu, Pierre (2005 [1979]). Distinction. A social critique of the judgement of taste. Abingdon: Routledge.

Bourdieu, Pierre & Darbel, Alain (1991 [1966/1969]). The love of art: European museums and their public. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Bryman, Alan E. (2004). The disneyization of society. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Burzan, Nicole (2016). Methodenplurale Forschung. Chancen und Probleme von Mixed Methods. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.

Burzan, Nicole & Eickelmann, Jennifer (2022). Machtverhältnisse und Interaktionen im Museum. Frankfurt/M.: Campus.

Corbin, Juliet M. & Strauss, Anselm L. (2015). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Creswell, John (2015). A concise introduction to mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Creswell, John & Plano Clark, Vicki (2017). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Denzin, Norman K. (2012). Triangulation 2.0. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 6(2), 80-88.

Eickelmann, Jennifer & Burzan, Nicole (2022). Das Museum im Spannungsfeld von musealer Deutungsmacht und Publikumsorientierung. Zur Scharnierfunktion von Museumsaufsichten. Zeitschrift für Kulturmanagement und Kulturpolitik, 8(1), 175-207.

Fielding, Nigel (2009). Going out on a limb. Postmodernism and multiple method research. Current Sociology, 57(3), 427-447.

Henning, Michelle (2006). Museums, media and cultural theory. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Hesse-Biber, Sharlene & Johnson, R. Burke (Eds.) (2015). The Oxford handbook of multimethod and mixed methods research inquiry. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kirchberg, Volker & Tröndle, Martin (2015). The museum experience: Mapping the experience of fine art. The Museum Journal, 58(2), 169-193.

Knoblauch, Hubert (2005). Focused ethnography. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 6(3). Art. 44, https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-6.3.20 [Accessed: March 14, 2022].

Macdonald, Sharon (Ed.) (2011). A companion to museum studies. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Macdonald, Sharon; Gerbich, Christine & Oswald, Margareta von (2018). No museum is an island: Ethnography beyond methodological containerism. Museum & Society, 16(2), 138-156, https://doi.org/10.29311/mas.v16i2.2788 [Accessed: November 11, 2022].

Mertens, Donna M. & Hesse-Biber, Sharlene (2012). Triangulation and mixed methods research: Provocative positions. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 6(2), 75-79, https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689812437100 [Accessed: November 11, 2022].

Morgan, David L. (2019). Commentary—after triangulation, what next?. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 13(1), 6-14, https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689818780596 [Accessed: November 11, 2022].

Nielsen, Jane K. (2017). Museum communication and storytelling: Articulating understandings within the museum structure. Museum Management and Curatorship, 32(5), 440-455.

Reitstätter, Luise & Fineder, Martina (2021). Der Ausstellungsinterviewrundgang (AIR) als Methode. Experimentelles Forschen mit Objekten am Beispiel der Wahrnehmung von Commons-Logiken. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 22(1), Art. 6, https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-22.1.3438 [Accessed: December 7, 2022].

Sarr, Felwine & Savoy, Bénédicte (2018). The restitution of African cultural heritage. Toward a new relational ethics. Report, https://www.unimuseum.uni-tuebingen.de/fileadmin/content/05_Forschung_Lehre/Provenienz/sarr_savoy_en.pdf [Accessed: December 7, 2022].

Schoonenboom, Judith & Johnson, R. Burke (2017). How to construct a mixed methods research design. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 57, 107-131.

Tashakkori, Abbas & Teddlie, Charles (Eds.) (2010). The Sage handbook of mixed methods in social & behavioral research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Teddlie, Charles & Tahakkori, Abbas (2009). Foundations of mixed methods research. Integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches in the social and behavioral science. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

Uprichard, Emma & Dawney, Leila (2019). Data diffraction: Challenging data integration in mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 13(1), 19-32, https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689816674650 [Accessed: November 11, 2022].

Van Maanen, John (1982). Varieties of qualitative research. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

vom Lehn, Dirk & Heath, Christian (2016). Action at the exhibit face. Video and the analysis of social interaction in museums and galleries. Journal of Marketing Management, 32(15-16), 1441-1457.

Yin, Robert K. (2014). Case study research design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Downloads

Published

2023-01-31

How to Cite

Eickelmann, J., & Burzan, N. (2023). Challenges of Multimethod and Mixed Methods Designs in Museum Research. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-24.1.3988