Breaking out: The opportunities and challenges of multi-method research inpopulation geography

Research traditions exert a powerful influence over the thinking of academi c researcher;. In population geography an entrenched empiricism and a reluc tance to engage in wider debates on theory and method within human geograph y have resulted in a degree of separate development. Such methodological co mplacency has, until recently, threatened to undermine population geography 's role within the discipline as a whole. Thus the discussion of multi-meth od research designs is of particular significance because it offers populat ion geographers an opportunity to break out from the confines of a dominant research tradition and participate with other human geographers in an impo rtant methodological debate. This paper seeks nor only to provide a critical overview of the current deb ate within population geography (as represented in the preceding papers in this Focus section) but also to extend that debate by raising issues of muc h more general concern. I argue that there Ire dangers in drawing the terms of the debate too narrowly If we are to understand the nature and potentia l of multi-method research, He must first pose fundamental questions about the interrelationships among methods, data, and research problems. Pragmati c views on the choice of research method are inadequate because they fail t o recognise the theory-driven nature of research. Only once we have achieve d a better understanding of the philosophical grounding of research strateg ies will the opportunities afforded by multi-method research be fully reali sed.