Researchers who advocate the use of multiple methods often write interchangeably about 'integrating', 'combining' and 'mixing' methods, sometimes eliding these descriptors with 'triangulation', which itself encompasses several meanings. In this paper we argue that such an elision is problematic since it obscures the difference between (a) the processes by which methods (or data) are brought into relationship with each other (combined, integrated, mixed) and (b) the claims made for the epistemological status of the resulting knowledge. Drawing on the literature for examples, we set out different rationales for using more than one method, then we develop a definition of 'integration of methods' as a specific kind of relationship among methods. We also discuss different places in the research process where integration can occur: for instance, data from different sources can be integrated in the analysis stage, or findings from different sources, at the point of theorising.

This paper explores the views of General Practitioners (GPs) about the appropriateness of children undertaking a task of interpretation between the GP and an adult patient in primary heath care consultations. We argue that the operational constraints that GPs face because of the limited availability of professional interpreters or bi-lingual Health Advocates create situations where children are accepted in this role by GPs, subject to specific limitations and contingencies. The contingent nature of perceptions of children's acceptability as informal interpreters is shown to be related primarily to the nature of the medical consultation in terms of whether it is likely to be straightforward, complex or sensitive. At the same time GPs express an ideological opposition to the appropriateness of this task for children generally. This ideological opposition is explicitly linked by GPs to broader constructions of a 'proper' childhood, characterised as a time of innocence and freedom from worry.

Abstract

The growing body of literature that seeks to understand the social impacts of flooding has failed to recognise the value of children's knowledge. Working with a group of floodaffected children in Hull using a storyboard methodology this paper argues that the children have specific flood experiences that need to be understood in their own right. In this paper we consider the ways in which the disruption caused by the flood revealed and produced new -and sometimes hidden -vulnerabilities and forms of resilience and we reflect on the ways in which paying attention to children's perspectives enhances our understanding of resilience.

The ability of scientists to apply cloning technology to humans has provoked public discussion and media coverage. The present paper reports on a series of studies examining public attitudes to human cloning, bringing together a range of quantitative and qualitative methods to address this question. These included a nationally representative survey, an experimental vignette study, focus groups and analyses of media coverage. In all of the analyses therapeutic cloning was viewed more favourably than was reproductive cloning. However, while participants in the focus groups were generally negative about both forms of cloning, and this was also reflected in the media analyses, quantitative results showed more positive responses. In the quantitative research, therapeutic cloning was generally accepted when the benefits of such procedures were clear and although reproductive cloning was less accepted there was still substantial support. Participants in the focus groups only differentiated between therapeutic and reproductive cloning after the issue of therapeutic cloning was explicitly raised; initially they saw cloning as being reproductive cloning and saw no real benefits. Attitudes were shown to be related to underlying values related to scientific progress rather than to age, gender or education, and although there were a few differences in the quantitative data based on religious affiliation, these tended to be small effects. Likewise in the focus groups there was little direct appeal to religion but the main themes were "interfering with nature" and the "status of the embryo", with the latter being used more effectively to try to close down further discussion. In general there was a close correspondence between the media analysis and focus group responses, possibly demonstrating the importance of media as a resource or that the media reflect public discourse accurately. However, focus group responses did not simply reflect media coverage. Abstract word count: 293