Mixed Methods Research: An Annotated Bibliography

Nicholas Daniel Hartlep, M.S.Ed.
Ph.D. Student in Urban Education and Social Foundations of Education
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
E-mail:  nicholashartlep@gmail.com

The following five references provide an overview of recent scholarship on mixed methods research within the academy. Included are citations for mixed methods studies that draw upon quantitative and qualitative data, as well as articles focused on (mixed methods) theoretical frameworks. Novice as well as seasoned scholars interested in advancing mixed methods research will find this bibliography an excellent starting point for furthering their personalized research agendas.

The purpose of this annotated bibliography is threefold: (1) Its focus is mixed methods research; (2) it articulates the strength of mixed methods research; and, (3) it seeks to crystallize mixed methods research so that laypeople and researchers within the academy may notice and come to appreciate mixed methods research.

This annotated bibliography is designed to provide readers—both laypersons and those active in the academy—a comprehensive indication of readings regarding the nature of mixed methods (and also mixed models) research design(s) utilized. General selection criteria were used, drawing from academic articles and academic texts dealing with the general topic of mixed methods (and also mixed models) research. The five selected documents herein represent the field it is examining (mixed methods and mixed models educational research). There is a host of debates—past and present—that are salient to the topic of mixed methods (mixed models) research, examples being the paradigm wars, centering on which paradigm—qualitative or quantitative—is superior; and relevancy and ethical debates, centering on emic versus etic studies.

Key terms:

Mixed Method: The inclusion of a quantitative phase and a qualitative phase in an overall research study. These mixtures, combinations, and inclusions may be research techniques, methods, approaches, concepts, or language.

Mixed Model: Mixing qualitative and quantitative approaches within or across the stages of the research process.

[1]
Johnson, R. B., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2004, October). Mixed Methods Research: A Research Paradigm Whose Time Has Come. Educational Researcher, 33(7), 14-26.

The purposes of this article are to position mixed methods research (mixed research is a synonym) as the natural complement to traditional qualitative and quantitative research, to present pragmatism as offering an attractive philosophical partner for mixed methods research, and to provide a framework for designing and conducting mixed methods research. In doing this, we briefly review the paradigm "wars" and incompatibility thesis, we show some commonalities between quantitative and qualitative research, we explain the tenets of pragmatism, we explain the fundamental principle of mixed research and how to apply it, we provide specific sets of designs for the two major types of mixed methods research (mixed model designs and mixed method designs), and, finally, we explain mixed methods research as following (recursively) an eight-step process. A key feature of mixed methods research is its methodological pluralism or eclecticism, which frequently results in superior research (compared to non method research). Mixed methods research will be successful as more investigators study and help advance its concepts and as they regularly practice it.

This article appears in a qualitative research journal and is written for two main audiences: (1) seasoned educational researchers who have experience using mixed methods research and (2) neophyte researchers who wish to broaden and enhance their current understandings of mixed methods research. A resource for up-and-coming and junior faculty, as well as tenured faculty, it offers knowledge, skills, tools, and resources and calls for researchers to reject dogmatism. Taking a non-purist or compatibilist or mixed position allows researchers to mix and match design components that offer the best chance of answering their specific research questions, resulting in complementary strengths and non-overlapping weaknesses. Mixed methods research can incorporate the strengths of both methodologies. It attempts to legitimate the use of multiple approaches in answering research questions rather than restricting or constraining researchers’ choices. Mixed method research is the “third wave” or research movement, a research paradigm whose time has come.

[2]
Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Dickinson, W. B. (2008, June). Mixed Methods Analysis and Information Visualization: Graphical Display for Effective Communication of Research Results. The Qualitative Report, 13(2), 204-225.

In this paper, we introduce various graphical methods that can be used to represent data in mixed research. First, we present a broad taxonomy of visual representation. Next, we use this taxonomy to provide an overview of visual techniques for quantitative data display and qualitative data display. Then, we propose what we call “crossover” visual extensions to summarize and integrate both qualitative and quantitative results within the same framework. We provide several examples of crossover (mixed research) graphical displays that illustrate this natural extension. In so doing, we contend that the use of crossover (mixed research) graphical displays enhances researchers’ understanding (i.e., increased Verstehen) of social and behavioral phenomena in general and the meaning that underlies these phenomena in particular.

The article appears in a qualitative research journal and is written for an audience of seasoned and educational researchers who wish to broaden and enhance their current understandings of mixed methods research. A resource for junior faculty, as well as tenured faculty in higher education, it offers knowledge, skills, tools, and resources for working with issues of data display within mixed methods research. This article provides visual techniques for quantitative data display and qualitative data display.

[3]
Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Collins, M. T. (2007, June). A Typology of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research. The Qualitative Report, 12(2), 281-316.

This paper provides a framework for developing sampling designs in mixed methods research. First, we present sampling schemes that have been associated with quantitative and qualitative research. Second, we discuss sample size considerations and provide sample size recommendations for each of the major research designs for quantitative and qualitative approaches. Third, we provide a sampling design typology and we demonstrate how sampling designs can be classified according to time orientation of the components and relationship of the qualitative and quantitative sample. Fourth, we present four major crises to mixed methods research and indicate how each crisis may be used to guide sampling design considerations. Finally, we emphasize how sampling design impacts the extent to which researchers can generalize their findings.

This article appears in a qualitative research journal and is written for two main audiences: (1) mixed methods researchers and (2) research methodologists. A resource for academicians, this article focuses upon the oftentimes overly-simplistic and misleading representations that lead researchers to two false dichotomies that are not consistent with practice: (1) sampling scheme and (2) sample size. The former is that random sampling schemes belong to the quantitative paradigm, whereas non-random sampling schemes belong to the qualitative paradigm. The latter is that small samples are associated with qualitative research, whereas large samples are associated with quantitative research. This article can help mixed method researchers to identify optimal sampling design. 24 sampling schemes, as well as sample size guidelines are provided. The article hopes to motivate other research methodologists to construct alternative typologies for helping researchers making their sampling decisions.

[4]
Palladino, J. M. (2009, Winter). A Proposed Model of Retransformed Qualitative Data Within a Mixed Methods Research Design. Journal of Ethnographic and Qualitative Research, 3(2), 91-7.

Most models of mixed methods research design provide equal emphasis of qualitative and quantitative data analyses and interpretation. Other models stress one method more than the other. The present article is a discourse about the investigator’s decision to employ a mixed method design to examine special education teachers’ advocacy and collaboration on behalf of foster care youth with disabilities. It includes a proposed model of retransforming qualitative data within a mixed method design. Implications about replicating and altering the model are discussed.

This article appears in a qualitative research journal and is written for one main audience, practicing researchers. It serves as a resource for ethnographers and qualitative researchers, and it advocates for mixed methods in research for two reasons: (1) methods are justified based on their abilities to answer posed questions and (2) mixing methods can also respond to new questions that manifest after the initially chosen method. The article includes an explanation of retransformation of qualitative data such that a researcher either quantifies qualitative findings or qualifies quantitative results.

[5]
Paterson, M., & Pentland, W. (2008, March). The Use of Hermeneutics in a Mixed Methods Design. The Qualitative Report, 13(1), 116-134.

Combining methods in a single study is becoming a more common practice because of the limitations of using only one approach to fully address all aspects of a research question. Hermeneutics in this paper is discussed in relation to a large national study that investigated issues influencing the ability of international graduates to work as occupational therapists in Canada. Using methods that reflect different ontological and epistemological beliefs was necessary to attain a comprehensive view of enablers and barriers that influence workforce integration. Hermeneutics proved to be a credible and flexible strategy for combining methods to create a deep understanding of acculturation issues for international occupational therapy graduates wishing to work in Canada.

By and large this journal article serves as a resource for beginning researchers and others. Hermeneutics can serve as a strategy to address a broad range of research questions. The article’s intent is to consider hermeneutics as a credible strategy for using mixed methods in one’s research. A hermeneutic spiral is described that progressively integrates data gained in a four phase study. The integration of qualitative and quantitative methods occurred throughout the study. Quantitative findings were transformed into a qualitative narrative.

References

Johnson, R. B., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2004, October). Mixed Methods Research: A Research Paradigm Whose Time Has Come. Educational Researcher, 33(7), 14-26.

Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Dickinson, W. B. (2008, June). Mixed Methods Analysis and Information Visualization: Graphical Display for Effective Communication of Research Results. The Qualitative Report, 13(2), 204-225.

Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Collins, M. T. (2007, June). A Typology of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research. The Qualitative Report, 12(2), 281-316.

Palladino, J. M. (2009, Winter). A Proposed Model of Retransformed Qualitative Data Within a Mixed Methods Research Design. Journal of Ethnographic and Qualitative Research, 3(2), 91-7.

Paterson, M., & Pentland, W. (2008, March). The Use of Hermeneutics in a Mixed Methods Design. The Qualitative Report, 13(1), 116-134.

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