A Multimethod Approach to the Study of Sensitive Organizational Issues

作者：Jehn Karen A; Jonsen Karsten^*

来源：Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 2010, 4(4): 313-341.

DOI：10.1177/1558689810380920

• sensitive issues
• qualitative approaches
• mixed methods
• conflicts

Sensitive organizational issues such as conflict, lying and deceit, and personal health issues are difficult to investigate because of their complex, elusive, and sometimes threatening nature as well as their potential consequences. In this article, an approach is presented that uses triangulation of multiple quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate sensitive organizational issues. This study of organizational conflict illustrates special data elicitation techniques (e. g., tree graphs, third-person questioning) designed to decrease the reluctance of employees to respond to various forms of inquiry. The qualitative approach complements the survey methods by identifying, categorizing, and verifying the existence of constructs. The benefits of the elicitation techniques, computerized text analysis, and multimethod comparison processes as remedies for research problems accentuated in studies of sensitive organizational issues are discussed.

• 出版日期2010-10