MIXED METHOD RESEARCH

Ammara Shakil
OVERVIEW

• Definition
• The dichotomy debate
• Various orientations about Mixed Method Research
• Current trends and examples in Mixed Method research
• Diversity and legitimacy
• Periods of development
• Criticism
 DEFINITION

‘‘the type of research in which a researcher or team of researchers combines elements of qualitative
and quantitative research approaches…for the purpose of breadth and depth of understanding and
corroboration’’.
Tashakkori, A., & C. Teddlie (Eds.). (2010). SAGE handbook
of mixed methods in social & behavioral research.

Originally by Johnson, Onwuegbuzie, and Turner’s 2007

definition of MMR in the Journal of Mixed Methods Research.
Mixed methods research is both a methodology and a method, and it involves collecting, analyzing,
and mixing qualitative and quantitative approaches in a single study or a series of studies.
(Creswell & Plano Clark)

Over the years, it has been refreshing to see many of the barriers come down and a new generation of
researchers marrying qualitative and quantitative methods into the mixed methods approach.
(James E. McLean, 2007)
University of Alabama
 THE DICHOTOMY

Mixed Methods: Relevant Combinations Go Beyond the Quantitative-Qualitative Dichotomy

Mixed methods research embraces much more than the traditional dichotomy between qualitative
and quantitative research. Such a dichotomy once threatened to split the evaluation community.
(e.g., Lincoln, 1991; Reichardt & Rallis, 1994; Sechrest, 1992)
The dichotomous view masks the reality that there can be many different “mixes” or combinations
of methods. For instance, in education research, some combination of experimentation and surveys.
Once freed from the quantitative-qualitative dichotomy, the relevance and reality of a broad variety
of “mixes” emerges.
The broad variety recognizes the true diversity of the research methods.
 LOOKING BEYOND THE DICHOTOMY

Mixed methods research means adopting a research strategy employing more than one type of research
method. The methods may be a mix or qualitative and quantitative methods, a mix of quantitative methods or
a mix of qualitative methods.
Mixed methods research also means working with different types of data. It may also involve using different
investigators – sometimes different research teams working in different research paradigms.
Mixed method research is often referred to as multi-strategy research (Bryman 2001) implying the application
of a number of different research strategies related to a complex range of research questions and a complex
research design.
On the other hand, mixed methods may form part of a long term strategy (several years) as in the case of a
research programme that is pursued over time by a group of researchers applying different methods and
approaches consecutively.
MIXED METHODS RESEARCH: ARE THE METHODS GENUINELY INTEGRATED OR
MERELY PARALLEL?
ROBERT K. YIN COSMOS CORPORATION
AUTHORS AND THEIR ORIENTATION TOWARDS MIXED
METHODS RESEARCH
DESIGNING AND CONDUCTING MIXED METHODS RESEARCH
EDITED BY JOHN W. CRESWELL, VICKI L. PLANO CLARK

Author(s) and Year Focus of Definition

Methods
Greene, Caracelli and Graham (1989)
Philosophy

Tashakkori and Teddlie (1998) Methodology

Qualitative and Quantitative research

Johnson, Onwuegbuuzie and Turner (2007)
Purpose

Qualitative and Quantitative research

Journal of Mixed Methods Research (JMMR)
Methods

Multiple ways of seeing , hearing and making sense of

Greene (2007)
the social world

Methods
Creswell and Plano Clark (2007)
Philosophy
 JOURNAL OF MIXED METHODS RESEARCH
ABBAS TASHAKKORI AND JOHN W. CRESWELL
EDITORIAL: THE NEW ERA OF MIXED METHODS

A quick search of the Internet or the academic databases would identify a large variety of studies in the social, behavioral, and health
sciences that are explicitly labeled mixed methods. A quick comparison of these studies will reveal that they are considered ‘‘mixed’’
because they utilize qualitative or quantitative approaches in one or more of the following ways:

• two types of research questions (with qualitative and quantitative approaches),

• the manner in which the research questions are developed (participatory vs. preplanned),
• two types of sampling procedures (e.g., probability and purposive,
• two types of data collection procedures (e.g., focus groups and surveys),
• two types of data (e.g., numerical and textual),
• two types of data analysis (statistical and thematic), and
• two types of conclusions (emic and etic representations, ‘‘objective’’ and ‘‘subjective,’’ etc
 EXAMPLES OF MIXED METHODS RESEARCH
HOW INTERPRETIVE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH EXTENDS MIXED METHODS RESEARCH
JOHN W. CRESWELL, RON SHOPE, VICKI L. PLANO CLARK, AND DENISE O. GREEN UNIVERSITY OF
NEBRASKA-LINCOLN

Mixed Method Design* Quantitative Research Qualitative Research Reason for Mixing
Authors Topic
Design and Methods Design and Methods Methods

Intervention
Ethnography
Diet and physical Trial Improve an intervention
Brett et al. (2002) Exploratory 2 waves of interviews
activity intervention Diet and physical design
In-home observations
activity intervention

Recreation and leisure in Survey

Mactavish and Schleien Thematic Analysis Validate quantitative
families that have Explanatory Family recreation
(2004) Interviews results
children with disabilities questionnaire

Teachers adaptation to Survey Provide a means to

Stoldosky and Case Study Interviews
changes in school Triangulation Survey on teacher examine trends in a
Grossman (2000) Observations
diversity adaptation national study
 DIVERSITY

‘The methodologists cannot create a complete taxonomy of MM designs, due to their (the designs’)
capacity to mutate into other diverse forms.’

Maxwell and Loomis (2003) concluded that “the actual diversity in mixed methods studies is far
greater than any typology can adequately encompass” (p. 244).
 LEGITIMACY OF MIXED METHODS RESEARCH
Legitimation Type Description

The extent to which the relationship between the quantitative and qualitative sampling designs yields quality meta-
Sample Integration
inferences.

The extent to which the researcher accurately presents and appropriately utilizes the insider’s view and the
Inside-Outside
observer’s views for purposes such as description and explanation.

The extent to which the weakness from one approach is compensated by the strengths from the other approach.
Weakness Minimization
The extent to which one has minimized the potential problem wherein the meta-inferences could be affected by
Sequential
reversing the sequence of the quantitative and qualitative phases.

The extent to which the quantitizing or qualitizing yields quality meta-inferences.

Conversion
The extent to which the researcher’s epistemological, ontological, axiological, methodological, and rhetorical beliefs
Paradigmatic mixing that underlie the quantitative and qualitative approaches are successfully (a) combined or (b) blended into a usable
package.

The extent to which the meta-inferences made reflect a mixed worldview based on the cognitive process of Gestalt
Commensurability
switching and integration.

The extent to which addressing legitimation of the quantitative and qualitative components of the study result from
Multiple Validities
the use of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed validity types, yielding high quality meta inferences.

The extent to which the consumers of mixed methods research value the meta-inferences stemming from both the
Political quantitative and qualitative components of a study.
Designing and
Conducting Mixed
Methods Research

edited by John W.
Creswell, Vicki L. Plano
Clark
 CRITICISM
QUALITATIVE VS QUANTITATIVE

Recent critics of this approach to inquiry argue that it largely serves the quantitative community, it
relegates qualitative research to secondary status, and it strays too far from the interpretive
foundation of qualitative research. (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005; Howe, 2004)
Clear methodological stance
 REFERENCES

• Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research

Edited by John W. Creswell, Vicki L. Plano Clark
• Tashakkori, A., & C. Teddlie (Eds.). (2010). SAGE handbook of mixed methods in social & behavioral
research. Thousand Oaks, CA, SAGE Publications, Inc., 912 pages. ISBN 10: 1412972663.
• Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie University of South Florida R. Burke Johnson ,The Validity Issue in Mixed
Research University of South Alabama
• How Interpretive Qualitative Research Extends Mixed Methods Research
John W. Creswell, Ron Shope, Vicki L. Plano Clark, and Denise O. Green University of Nebraska-
Lincoln
.Thanks