Triangulation, research methods

As the name suggests, the case study involves a detailed examination of an individual case, which in chemistry education research is most likely to be an individual student or an individual instructor. In order to gather sufficiently detailed data about both the individual and the context(s) in which the boundaries of the case exist, the researcher employs multiple sources of data and multiple methods to triangulate the findings. 

The Use of Triangulation Methods in Qualitative Educational Research by Maria Oliver-Hoyo and DeeDee Allen, Journal of College Science Teaching, 2006, 35(4), 42. 

Figure 4. The concurrent triangulation strategy (Creswell, J. W. Research Design, Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches 2nd ed. p. 214, copyright 2003 by Sage Publications, Inc. Reprinted by Permission of Sage Publications, Inc.).

Similar to the concurrent triangulation approach, the concurrent nested strategy uses one data collection analysis phase. However, as indicated in Figure 5, one approach has priority over the other and the more dominant methodology guides the study. The less dominant method may address a different research question or collect data at different levels— teaching assistants rather than faculty or students, or administrators rather than faculty members. 

Modell, S. (2005) Triangulation between case study and survey methods in management accounting research An assessment of vahdity imphcations, Manag Accounting Res, 16, 231-254. 

In order to answer the research questions a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods (Golafshani 2003, Hofstatter et al. 2010) is used which comprises qualitative interviews with IT students in the higher education sector in Austria and a quantitative analysis of IT study programmes. 

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