How and When to Integrate Research Methodologies

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(1) Can someone help me with generalizing how and when research approaches (i.e. case studies, narrative, phenomenology, grounded theory, and/or ethnography) could be blended or adapted for a research study.

Upon efforts to investigate certain studies, either a simple quantitative or qualitative method when used by itself may not be sufficient to provide a holistic view of the topic under study. In cases such as this, a mixed-methods approach is useful when one wants to present a design to explain phenomena within a holistic framework. For instance, a mixed method approach is best used to explore and explain phenomena from both a quantitative and qualitative approach (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007), and to incorporative data emphasizing participants' experiences. A description of research approaches that can be blended into the research study are provided in the following summary:

• A case study is the method of obtaining information based on an in-depth analysis of an individual (s) thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. In presenting the case study, the researcher seeks to obtain data such as the individual's background, and personal and medical history.
• The narrative (story form) is a process in which the data is analyzed. Matthew (2005) emphasizes that the qualitative researcher has a number of options open to him or her in which to analyze data once it has been collected such as: (1) memos, (2) coding [developing categories), thematic analysis [depicting theme], and narrative analysis [chronicling the story (Matthew, 2005, p. 96).
• Grounded theory—this method of obtaining dated is based on the use of and explanations in existing theories to validate your own research (e.g., psychoanalysis).
• Phenomenological method—is used when the researcher wants to obtain the specific views of the client regarding particular phenomena related to the research question.
• Ethnography incorporates both quantitative and qualitative methods. However, the research is focused on obtaining data (e.g., behaviors) on a specific ...