Mixed Methods Research Flashcards
Benefits of mixed methods research
quantitative - reveal generalisable info for a large group of people
qualitative - provides data without meaning and context regarding the people and environments of study
What the funders say about mixed methods research
interested in randomised control trial with a non-experimental approach embedded within it
Strategies associated with quantitative approach
experiements: include true experiments
surveys: include cross-sectional and longitudinal studies questionnaires or structured interviews for data collection
Strategies associated with qualitative approach
narrative research: study the lives of individuals
Phenomenological: identify the essence of human experiences
ethnographies: intact cultural group in a natural setting over a prolonged period of time
Grounded theory: attempt to derive a general, abstract theory of a process, action or interaction grounded in the views of participants
case studies: explore in depth a program, event, activity, process of one or more individuals
Sequential Procedures
researcher seeks to elaborate on or expand the findings of one method with another method
May involve beginning with a qual method for exploratory purposes and following up with quan with a large sample to enable generalisation
Concurrent Procedures
converge quan and qual data to provide comprehensive analysis of the research problem
Researcher collects both forms at the same time
Transformative Procedures
Researcher uses a theoretical lens as in overarching perspective that contains both quan and qual data
Lens provides a framework for topics of interest, methods for collecting data, outcomes or chances anticipated
Triangulation Mixed methods design
collecting both quan and qual data at the same time and analysing them separately
Use triangulation methods when:
you want to combine the advantages of quan with qual and validate your quan findings with qual data
Nested methods
having one form of data play a smaller role in the study than the other form of data
Nesting methods used when:
you do not have time or resources to commit to extensive quan and qual data collection
When you want to study the process of an experiment as well as the outcomes
Explanatory Mixed methods
viewing the study as a two phase project
collect quan then qual data
Use Explanatory mixd methods when:
you want to explain qyan results in more depth with qual data
WHen you want to identify appropriate participants to study in more depth qualitatively
Exploratory Mixed Methods
Viewing the study as a two phase project
Qual collection precedes quan collection
When to use exploratory mixed methods
to develop an instriment when one is not available
to develop a classification or typology for testing
to identify the most important variables to study quantitatively when these variables are not known
Choosing a mixed methods strategy
implementation
priority
integration
theoretical perspective
Implementation of mixed methods strategies
either that researcher collect both the quan and qual data in phases or that they gather it at the same time
Priorities in mixed methods strategies
the weight given to the quan data and analysis
Integration of mixed methods strategies
of the two type of data might occur at several stages in the process of research, the data collection, the data analysis, interpretation, or some combination of places
theoretical perspective in mixed methods strategies
the philosophical framework that guides the entire design
Data collection of mixed methods studies
identify and be specific about the type of data
recognise that quantitative data often involve random sampling
relate the procedures specifically to the visual model
Triangulation Analysis
separate quan and qual data analysis and compare results
Nested Analysis
Link Quan data with Qual data and compare/describe results
Explanatory Analysis
includes quan and qual data in which qual data is purposely sampled
Includes statistical results, outlier cases and extreme cases
Exploratory Analysis
Qual and quan data analysis including quotes, codes and themes
Data transformation
for concurrent strategies involves creating codes and themes qualitatively, then counting the no. of times they occur in the text data
Enables the researcher to copare quan results with qual data
Explore outliers
analyse quan data in the first phase can yield extreme or outlier cases
Follow up interviews can provide insight about why they diverged from the quan sample
Instrument Development
obtain themes and specific statements from participants in an initial qual data collection
in the next phase, use these as specific items and the themes for scales to create a survey instrument that is grounded in the views of participants
Third phase might be to validate the instrument with large sample representative of population
Examine multiple levels
in a concurrent nested model, conduct a survey at one level to gather quan results about a sample
at the same time, collect qual interviews to explore the phenomenon with specific individuals in families
Reporting the ANalysis
sequential study
concurrent study
transformative study
Sequential study
mixed methods researcher typically organises the report of procedures into quan and qual
in conclusions, explain how qual findings helped to elaborate on quan results
Concurrent study
quan and qual data collection may be presented in separate section, but analysis and interpretation combines the two forms to seek convergence among results
No clear distinction between the two
Transformative Study
Structure typically involved advancing the advocacy issue in the beginning of the study ad then using either the sequential or concurrent structure as a means of organizing the content of the study
