Multi-Method Approaches to Digital Government Research: Value Lessons and Implementation Challenges

Digital government is a complex organizational and social phenomenon. It involves technical, organizational, and policy elements, as well as their complex and recursive interactions. Multi-method approaches have been shown as capable of presenting more comprehensive explanations of complex situations. This paper argues that multi-method approaches are valuable alternatives for egovernment research. Two case studies involving multi-method approaches to e-government research are presented to illustrate advantages and challenges in both large-scale and small-scale projects.¹ The paper highlights some lessons learned from the two projects and suggests strategies to obtain the benefits and overcome some of the implementation challenges in doing multi-method digital government research.