Advocating the combination of methodologies rejects some of the traditional
dualisms which have seemingly pervaded the discourse of how we should undertake
construction management research in the past ten to fifteen years. As has been
explained however, the benefits of holism – combining methodological perspectives
in order to gain richer insights and a more complete understanding of social phenomena
– are particularly persuasive in the context of doing research in the construction
sector. A more expansive outlook towards mixing methodologies and research paradigms
could yield deeper insights into, and understanding of, the way that practitioners
‘do’ management in the construction sector. Techniques such as triangulation,
facilitation and complementarity (cf. Hammersley, 1996) all offer the potential to overcome
the weaknesses of single-paradigm approaches, whilst multimethodology –
the combination of parts of methodologies together – offers particular advantages
for the use of systems or operational research techniques (Mingers and Gill, 1997).
However, mixing paradigms in this way will require adventure and courage on the part
of researchers if they are to challenge the paradigmatic intransigence which is seemingly
so ingrained within the construction management research community