ABSTRACT
The use of multiple methods associated with disparate epistemological paradigms is still rare in consumer research. To realize the potential of multimethod research, we draw on examples that show the theoretical and practical importance of employing different assumptions about doing multimethod science. To convey these assumptions and their consequences, we use the metaphor of representing research as conducting a choir. Lakoff and Johnson summarize the value of a good metaphor:
There is a similarity induced by the metaphor that goes beyond the mere similarities between the two ranges of experience. The additional similarity is a structural similarity. It involves the way we understand how the individual highlighted experiences fit together in a coherent way… The metaphor, by virtue of giving coherent structure to a range of our experiences, creates similarities of a new kind.
