Triangulation in Organizational Research

Abstract

The use of qualitative and quantitative methods in studying the same phenomenon has received attention among the scholars and researchers. As a result, it has become an accepted practice to use some form of triangulation in social research. In the social sciences, the use of triangulation can be traced back to Campbell and Fiskel. This was later developed by Webb and elaborated by Denzin beyond its conventional association with research methods and designs in science. The objective of science is to discover, describe, and explain the fact, whereas in the case of social science it is to observe, verify, and conclude. This chapter also covers the positivist view and the postmodernism and post-positivism paradigms of triangulation as well as the types of knowledge derived from the usage of triangulation in organizational research. This chapter concludes with how triangulation validates knowledge in human competence within an organizational setting.