Creating knowledge: A review of research methods in three societal change approaches

While three approaches to societal change have many elements in common, there are notable differences in the preferred research methodologies used. This article offers a review of the research designs in three approaches to organizing societal change: social marketing, social movements and social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship primarily is examined with case studies, network analyses and surveys. Typically, social movements are investigated with qualitative methods, principally case studies. Social marketing shows a strong tendency to evaluate implementations, and experiments are common. These differences in research methodologies are influenced by their foundation disciplines. Social movement is strongly associated with sociology, anthropology and political science. Social entrepreneurship is firmly embedded in business disciplines. Social marketing is allied to psychology and applied extensively in health. Research output also tends to be published in a limited number of discipline relevant journals. While a common foundation offers strengths, it is also a weakness. Cross disciplinary approaches improve research quality by testing assumptions and examining new concepts. Filtering ideas from other fields stimulates new views and may provide useful models or theories. Working beyond the traditions of one discipline enriches the creativity of research. This review suggests employing a variety of research methods offers considerable benefits. The research designs should fit the situation and question being examined. Rigorous and useful societal change research will be produced through combinations of methods that adjust to complexity, adapt to changing conditions, and adjust to varying circumstances. There is significant value in variety of research designs.