A Current Assessment of How Mixed Methods Has Developed

1
A Current Assessment of How Mixed Methods Has
Developed 

• by
• John W. Creswell, Ph.D.
• Professor of Educational Psychology, Co-Director
  of the Office of Qualitative and Mixed Methods
  Research, and Co-Founding Editor, Journal of
  Mixed Methods Research
•  
• Keynote address for the 4th Annual Mixed Methods
  Conference, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
  University, UK, sponsored by Anglia Ruskin
  University, July 21, 2008

2
Synopsis of Talk

• Need a map of topics currently being discussed
  in mixed methods
• Why I can start the conversation
• Why we need this map
• How my map was developed
• How I related the 2008 Mixed Methods Conference
  papers to my map and observations about
  coverage
• Focus on four specific topics history, and
  insightful contributions
• Future of mixed methods

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Why We Need to "Map" the Field

• Help scholars identify their contributions to the
  literature
• Tashakkori and Teddlie (2003) Handbook map of
  six issues
• The nomenclature and basic definitions used in
  mixed methods research.
• The utility of mixed methods research (why do we
  do it?)
• The paradigmatic foundations for mixed methods
  research
• Design issues in mixed methods research
• Issues in drawing inferences in mixed methods
  research
• The logistics of conducting mixed methods
  research
• Issues five years old

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Why We Need to "Map" the Field

• The Greene (2007) map of four dimensions
• Philosophical assumptions and stances
• Inquiry logics (methods, sampling, design, etc,)
• Guidelines for practice (empirical guidelines,
  such as how to mix)
• Sociopolitical commitments (interests being
  served, situational politics)
• Need more specific topics

5
My Categories of Topics

• Philosophical and theoretical topics
• The techniques topics
• The nature of mixed methods research topics
• The adoption and use of mixed methods topics
• The politics of mixed methods topics

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Table 1. Philosophical and Theoretical Issues
and 2008 Mixed Methods Conference Papers
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Table 2. The Techniques of Mixed Methods
Research and 2008 Mixed Methods Conference Papers
8
Table 3. The Nature of Mixed Methods and 2008
Mixed Methods Conference Papers
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Table 4. The Adoption and Use of Mixed Methods
and 2008 Mixed Methods Conference Papers
10
Table 4. The Adoption and Use of Mixed Methods
and 2008 Mixed Methods Conference Papers
11
Table 5. The Politics of Mixed Methods and 2008
Mixed Methods Conference Papers
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Specific Topics

• Incorporating mixed methods into other designs
• Paradigms as beliefs of a community of scholars
• New thinking about research designs
• Advocacy through extramural funding

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Incorporating Mixed Methods into other Designs
(the Nature of Mixed Methods)

• Brief history
• Two separate strands
• A link between the strands
• Linking data
• Linking across many phases of research
• Looking at philosophical issues
• Incorporation of mixed methods into existing
  designs (latest thinking)

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Framework for Viewing Perspectives on Mixed
Methods
Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
Mixed Methods
Method
Methodology
Paradigm Perspective
Incorporation into other designs
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Incorporation Into Other Designs

Experimental research
Ethnography
Case Study Research
Narrative research
Qual ----- Quan
Qual----- Quan
Qual-----Quan
Qual---- Quan
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Paradigms as beliefs of a community of scholars
(Philosophical Perspective)

• Brief history
• The incompatability stance that means that
  mixed methods is untenable
• Dialectic stance - Multiple paradigms are
  possible and can be used, but honor and make
  explicit the paradigms
• Single paradigm stance - There is a single
  paradigm for mixed methods research pragmatism,
  transformative
• Design stance - Multiple paradigms can be used
  relate them to your design
• Community stance belief systems come out of
  shared meanings and understanding

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Morgan's (2007) Four Paradigm Stances

• Paradigms as worldviews (all-encompassing
  perspectives on the world)
• Paradigms as epistemological stances (ontology,
  epistemology, methodology)
• Paradigms as examples (best or typical
  solutions to problems)
• Paradigms as shared beliefs in a research field
  (shared beliefs about the nature of questions and
  answers)

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Community of Scholars (Denscombe, 2008)

• Shared community
• Shared set of research problems
• Shared practices
• Shared identity
• Information exchange
• Interpersonal networks
• Social acquisition of knowledge
• Informal groupings that transcend boundaries

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New Thinking about Research Designs

• Brief history
• Parsimonious set of designs simple
• Notation
• Visual diagrams
• Typologies
• Complex evaluation models
• Combination of sequential and concurrent designs
• Reconceptualizing designs

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Mixed Methods Designs (Creswell Plano Clark,
2007)
Concurrent Mixed Methods Designs
Triangulation Design
Embedded Design
21

Sequential Designs Mixed Methods Designs
Explanatory Design
Exploratory Design
Sequential Embedded Design
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Guidelines for Creating Visuals of Procedures

• Give a title to the visual model.
• Choose either horizontal or vertical layout for
  the model.
• Draw boxes for quantitative and qualitative
  stages of data collection, data analysis and
  interpretation of the study results.
• Use capitalized (QUAN) or small letters (quan) to
  designate priority of quantitative and
  qualitative data collection and analysis.
• Use single-headed arrows to show the flow of
  procedures in the design.
• Specify procedures for each quantitative and
  qualitative data collection and analysis stage.
• Specify expected products or outcomes of each
  quantitative and qualitative data collection and
  analysis procedure.
• Use concise language.
• Make your visual diagram simple.
• Size your visual diagram to one page.
• Source Ivankova, N. et al. (2006)

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Complex Mixed Methods Evaluation Designs
(Nastasi, Hitchcock, Sarkar, Burkholder, Varjas
Jayasena, 2007) Study of mental
health interventions for youth in Sri Lanka
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Reconceptualization of Designs

• Three ways to look at mixed methods designs
• Typological approach (Bryman, 1988 Creswell
  Plano Clark, 2007)
• Systems theory (Maxwell Loomis, 2003)
• Synergistic approach - Hall Howard (2008), A
  Synergistic Approach Conducting Mixed Methods
  Research with Typological and Systemic Design
  Considerations
• Synergy is the idea that two or more options
  interact so that their combined effect is greater
  than the sum of individual effects
• Position of equal representation for qual and
  quan
• Ideology of difference protect paradigm
  differences
• Researcher as collaborator and relationship with
  design skilled in both quan and qual or part of
  interdisciplinary team

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Advocacy Through Extramural Funding

• Brief history
• Books
• Journals
• Discipline interest
• Conferences
• Courses
• Federal funding interest (US)

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NIH New Projects Funded with Mixed Methods
in Abstract, 2003-2008, CRISP Database
27

Funded NIH Projects by NIH Institutes that Used
the Words Mixed Methods (2003-2008) (Source
NIH CRISP database)
National Cancer Institute
National Institute of Drug Abuse
National Institute of Mental Health
National Institute of Nursing Research
NCINational Cancer Institute NEINational Eye
Institute NHGRINational Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute, NIANational Institute on Aging
NIAAA National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, NIAMSNational Institute on Arthritis
and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
NIBIENational Institute of Biomedical Imaging
and Engineering NICHDNational Institute on
Child Health and Human Development NIDANational
Institute on Drug Abuse NIDCDNational Institute
on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
NIDCRNational Institute on Dental and
Craniofacial Research NIDDKNational Institute
on Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
NIEHSNational Institute on Environmental Health
Sciences NIGMSNational Institute of General
Medical Sciences NIMHNational Institute of
Mental Health NINDSNational Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke NINRNational
Institute of Nursing Research NLMNational
Library of Medicine
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Examples of NIH K Awards, 2007, CRISP
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Conclusions

• Future predictions
• Discipline expansion
• Splinter interest groups
• Little Atlantic gap
• Graduate students
• Refinement and expansion of techniques
• My list will be too brief
• Mixed methods will no longer be new
• Groups of topics will emerge
• Manuscript writers will have a better sense of
  how their studies contribute

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References

• Bryman, A. (1988). Quantity and quality in
  social research. London Routledge.
• Creswell, J. W., Plano Clark, V. L. (2007).
  Designing and conducting mixed methods research.
  Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.
• Denscombe, M. (2008). Communities of practice
  A research paradigm for the mixed methods
  approach. Journal of Mixed Methods Research,
  2(3), 270-283.
• Greene, J. C. (2007). Mixed methods in social
  inquiry. San Francisco Jossey-Bass.
• Hall, B. Howard, K. (2008). A synergistic
  approach Conducting mixed methods research with
  typological and systemic design considerations.
  Journal of Mixed Methods Research 2, 248-269.
• Ivankova, N. V., Creswell, J. W., Stick, S.
  (2006). Using mixed methods sequential
  explanatory design From theory into practice.
  Field Methods, 18(1), 3-20.
• Morgan, D. L. (2007). Paradigms lost and
  pragmatism regained. Journal of Mixed Methods
  Research, 1, 48-76.
• Nastasi, B.K., Hitchcock, J., Sarkar, S.,
  Burkholder, G., Varjas, K., Jayasena, A.
  (2007). Mixed methods in intervention research
  Theory to adaptation. Journal of Mixed Methods
  Research 1, 164-182.
• Tashakkori, A. Teddlie, C. (Eds.) (2003).
  Handbook of mixed methods in social and
  behavioral research. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage
  Publications.

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A Current Assessment of How Mixed Methods Has
Developed 

• by
• John W. Creswell, Ph.D.
• Professor of Educational Psychology, Co-Director
  of the Office of Qualitative and Mixed Methods
  Research, and Co-Founding Editor, Journal of
  Mixed Methods Research
•  
• Keynote address for the 4th Annual Mixed Methods
  Conference, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
  University, UK, sponsored by Anglia Ruskin
  University, July 21, 2008