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Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access originally published online on April 13, 2006
Cambridge Journal of Economics 2007 31(1):77-99; doi:10.1093/cje/bel009
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.

Retroduction as mixed-methods triangulation in economic research: reorienting economics into social science

Paul Downward and Andrew Mearman*

* Loughborough University and University of the West of England, respectively

Address for correspondence: Paul Downward, Loughborough University, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK; email: p.downward{at}lboro.ac.uk

This paper argues that mixed-methods triangulation can be understood as the manifestation of retroduction, the logic of inference espoused by critical realism. As such, it can provide the basis upon which different insights upon the same phenomenon can be sensibly combined and thus has the potential to unite aspects of different traditions of economic and social thought. In this regard, the paper supports Lawson's view that the exclusive insistence on mathematical and statistical modelling in economics is misguided. The paper explores how disciplinary boundaries may be broken down and interdisciplinary social science, of which economics can be a part, established.

Key Words: Retroduction • Triangulation • Economics • Social Science • Interdisciplinary

JEL classifications: B41, B50

Manuscript received January 24, 2005; final version received January 10, 2006.


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