ABSTRACT
A mixed methods approach to social science research is rooted in pragmatism and is based upon the assumption that in well-designed research projects both qualitative and quantitative methodologies can be used, and can work well, together. Mixed methods research incorporates elements of both qualitative and quantitative approaches to methodology including data collection, data analysis and drawing an appropriate inference from the data collected. S. Lockyer argues that a mixed methods approach to humour research is ideal because of the complex nature of humour. She investigated how readers responded when they were offended by the magazine Private Eye. Crystallisation is an approach to methodology that attempts to combine creative work with academic analysis through what practitioners refer to as creative analytic practices. Crystallisation is based upon a number of assumptions that have their starting point in postmodernism and the postmodernist understanding of narrative.
