Qualitative Research, Modelization and Econometrics

Researchers have even more opportunities to study and practice qualitative and quantitative researches. Some ways to combine them are already known and shared; some others rely on the needed creativity regarding a specific object of research. The main purpose of this presentation is to document a methodology used to integrate qualitative and quantitative data and to combine methods to construct a theoretical model and to test it. This methodology is based on a research where sociology and economics are combined. The presentation is structured as follow. First, I consider main known ways to combine qualitative and quantitative research. The point is to underline how the methodology I used can be similar or different from these articulations. Second, a brief description is done regarding the context of the research: the analysis of skin colour declarations in Brazil. This helps to anchor in practice the methodology, then presented in a more conceptual way. Third, the four main steps of the articulation between qualitative and qualitative research are presented. Interviews analysis open and close the process, while the second and the third steps correspond respectively to the microeconomic model and to the econometrical part. Fourth, the presentation focuses on a specific pattern inside the first step, where the researcher herself is a support of qualitative data collection. Finally, the methodology is discussed, notably regarding the possibilities to use it for other research object.