Principal speaker
Dr Judy Rose
This session is part of a 6-part series on Foundations of Mixed Methods (FMM). The basics are covered in Introducing MM (Part 1), focusing on context, approach. research questions and theoretical context. We explore easy, visual ways for communicating MM strategies (Part 2), including a conceptual framework for quant/qual empirical research. We demonstrate the variety of strategies for assembling MM studies, when studies use both survey and interview data (Part 3). The conceptual framework underlying MM is discussed in greater detail (Part 4), as a basis for designing the MM and critical reading and writing about MM strategies (Part 5). We provide an example of integrative MM, illustrated for analyzing interview transcripts via thematic/clustering analysis (Part 6).
In this workshop we demonstrate how to assemble mixed methods studies involving surveys and interviews. By assembling we mean putting together different components of a mixed methods study, including how qual(itative) and quant(itative) components combine, how data collected is "mixed" across qual and quant components and how results are combined. Other workshops go into the detail of how data would be collected to inform particular qual and quant methods. This workshop presents an array of Mixed Methods designs used for the mixing of survey and interview data within a research study. Assembling Mixed Methods typically involves a consideration of: purpose (e.g., exploratory or explanatory), timing (e.g., concurrent or sequential), emphasis (e.g., qual or quant driven) and mixing (e.g., triangulating results). Other aspects particularly relevant to surveys & interviews are: timing of phases (e.g., surveys before interviews or vice-versa) and integration (e.g., survey outcomes inform the interview questions and sample).
We present several examples of Mixed Methods studies in different fields including the Social and Natural Sciences, Health, and Education. These frame an exploration of how qual and quant components are assembled in sequential, parallel, and embedded designs. We show that assembling a Mixed Methods study may be pre-specified, e.g., separate survey and interviewing components specified in advance. Alternatively, it may be iterative, e.g., survey results identify the key areas that shape the interview questions. Finally, we cover how results and findings are conceptually combined, to establish corroboration, elaboration, convergence, divergence or dissonance. Examples are provided of how this can be written up and reported.
Who may attend? Advanced Beginners. This workshop is for researchers who are interested in a variety of ways surveys and interviews can be put together in a single MM project. It provides a concrete example for general principles of designing MM (Part 4, Conceptual Framework for MM) or writing-up MM (Part 5, Critical reading & writing of MM).
Format: This workshop delivered online during a 2.5-hour period, via Collaborate. The last half hour will be a Question-and-Answer session.
Recommended Reading, before attending: Driscoll, Appiah-Yeboah, Salib, & Rupert. (2007). Merging qualitative and quantitative data in mixed methods research: How to and why not. Ecological and Environmental Anthropology, 3(1), 19-28.