Paradigms at Play: Pursuing Complexity with a Mixed-Method Initiation Design

This research aims to make a methodological contribution to the mixed methods literature by investigating the value-added of empirical studies that are explicitly framed with the purpose of interrogating divergent findings. Case studies introduce the role philosophical paradigms can play in reconciliation process and reveal the potential to advance theoretical understanding and/or to challenge prevailing views as a principal value-added as a potential outcome of research with this purpose. The research makes an additional contribution by proposing that there is a variant of the initiation design that is theoretically framed in ways that anticipates divergence and resists reconciliation.