Mixed Methods Research: A Research Paradigm Whose Time Has Come
By R. B. Johnson & A. J. Onwuegbuzie
Glossary Terms
Antithetical - Of, relating to, or marked by antithesis. Being in diametrical opposition.
antithetical. (n.d.) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2003). Retrieved November 27 2013
from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/antithetical
Homunculi - A diminutive human.
homunculi. (n.d.) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2003). Retrieved November 27 2013
from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/homunculi
Ecumenicalism – Of worldwide scope or applicability; universal.
ecumenicalism. (n.d.) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2003). Retrieved November 27 2013
from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Ecumenicalism
Logic of justification – “a tendency among some researchers to treat epistemology and method as being synonymous.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 15)
Soft relativism – “(e.g. respecting the opinions and views of different people and groups). When dealing with human research, soft relativism simply refers to a respect and interest in understanding and depicting individual and social group differences and a respect for democratic approaches to group opinion and value selection.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 16)
Pragmatic rule – “states that the current meaning of instrumental or provisional truth value (which James [1995, 1907 original] would term “cash value”) of an expression (e.g., “all reality has a material base” or “qualitative research is superior for uncovering humanistic research findings”) is to be determined by the experiences or practical consequences of belief in or use of the expression in the world. (Murphy, 1990)” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 16)
Mixed methods research – “the class of research where the researcher mixes or combines quantitative and qualitative research techniques, methods, approaches, concepts or language into a single study.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 17)
“Mixed methods research also is an attempt to legitimate the use of multiple approaches in answering research questions, rather than restricting or constraining researchers’ choices (i.e., it rejects dogmatism). It is an expansive and creative form of research, not a limiting form of research. It is inclusive, pluralistic, and complimentary…” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 17)
Characteristics of quantitative research – “focus on deduction, confirmation, theory/hypothesis testing, explanation, prediction, standardized data collection, and statistical analysis” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 18)
Characteristics of qualitative research – “induction, discovery, exploration, theory/hypothesis generation, the researcher as the primary “instrument” of data collection, and qualitative analysis.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 18)
Fundamental principle of mixed research – “researchers should collect multiple data using different strategies, approaches, and methods in such a way that the resulting mixture or combination is likely to result in complementary strengths and non-overlapping weaknesses. (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 18)
Mixed-model – “mixing qualitative and quantitative approaches within or across the stages of the research process.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 20)
Mixed-method –“the inclusion of a quantitative phase and a qualitative phase in an overall research study.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 20)
Five major purposes or rationales for conducting mixed methods research:
Onwuegbuzie and Teddlie’s seven-stage conceptualization of the mixed methods data analysis process:
Legitimation – assessing the trustworthiness of both the qualitative and quantitative data and subsequent interpretations. (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 22)
Quotes
“The goal of mixed methods research is not to replace either of these approaches but rather to draw from the strengths and minimized the weaknesses of both in single research studies and across studies.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 14)
This succinctly points out the benefits of this methodology and why it could be considered to be the strongest and most accurate form of research methodology.
“We contend that researchers and research methodologists need to be asking when each research approach is most helpful and when and how they should be mixed or combined in their research studies.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 15)
This quote prompts me to think about the questions that I have and how I might approach them in my research. I recognize that the choices that I make will determine the validity and the reliability of my study and these are areas that need to be decided with great care.
“Today’s research world is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, complex, and dynamic; therefore, many researchers need to complement one method with another, and all researchers need a solid understanding of multiple methods used by other scholars to facilitate communication, to promote collaboration, and to provide superior research.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 15)
With the implementation and worldwide use of the internet, research has become far more complex. With people able to access a variety of information and opinion at the touch of a finger, we as researcher’s need to alter our research methods to take into consideration the ability of our work to be challenged. If we make the effort and use a paradigm that help to use to strengthen our hypotheses and to minimize the aspects that can be challenged, we are able to develop stronger more accurate data that is subject to less scrutiny.
“– research methods should follow research questions in a way that offers the best chance to obtain useful answers.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 17)
I chose this quote because I felt that it should be the way researcher should be approaching their studies. While it is important to maintain a professional objective approach to legitimize a study, it is also very important to garner the best possible information from the subjects, often with studies with a human element; we need to use the tools or methods that will be best suited to gain the most knowledge and understanding.
“…a key point that mixed methods research truly opens up an exciting and almost unlimited potential for future research.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 20)
I found this to be an interesting statement. The idea that the purpose of the research is to open itself and the subject up to further research is decidedly an interpretive research characteristic. I posted it because I believe that some answers are needed in order for us to be able to generate further in depth or more meaningful questions.
“…we recommend contingency theory for research approach selection, which accepts that quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research are all superior under different circumstances and it is the researcher’s task to examine the specific contingencies and make the decision about which research approach, or which combination of approaches should be used in a specific study.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 22)
When we look at performing research, it is quite daunting. This quote gives credibility and justification for choosing this method as well as the ability to defend researcher’s approach to a given study. While any approach taken must be defendable, it reminds us that there is flexibility in our research paradigm that allows us to find better in depth answers for our questions.
References
James, W. (1995, 1907). Pragmatism. New York: Dover.
Johnson, R.B. & Onwuegbuzie, A.J. (2004). Mixed Methods Research: A Research Paradigm Whose Time Has Come, Educational Researcher, 33(7), 14-26.
Murphy, J.P. (1990). Pragmatism: From Peirce to Davidson. Boulder, CO: Westview
Antithetical - Of, relating to, or marked by antithesis. Being in diametrical opposition.
antithetical. (n.d.) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2003). Retrieved November 27 2013
from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/antithetical
Homunculi - A diminutive human.
homunculi. (n.d.) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2003). Retrieved November 27 2013
from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/homunculi
Ecumenicalism – Of worldwide scope or applicability; universal.
ecumenicalism. (n.d.) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2003). Retrieved November 27 2013
from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Ecumenicalism
Logic of justification – “a tendency among some researchers to treat epistemology and method as being synonymous.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 15)
Soft relativism – “(e.g. respecting the opinions and views of different people and groups). When dealing with human research, soft relativism simply refers to a respect and interest in understanding and depicting individual and social group differences and a respect for democratic approaches to group opinion and value selection.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 16)
Pragmatic rule – “states that the current meaning of instrumental or provisional truth value (which James [1995, 1907 original] would term “cash value”) of an expression (e.g., “all reality has a material base” or “qualitative research is superior for uncovering humanistic research findings”) is to be determined by the experiences or practical consequences of belief in or use of the expression in the world. (Murphy, 1990)” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 16)
Mixed methods research – “the class of research where the researcher mixes or combines quantitative and qualitative research techniques, methods, approaches, concepts or language into a single study.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 17)
“Mixed methods research also is an attempt to legitimate the use of multiple approaches in answering research questions, rather than restricting or constraining researchers’ choices (i.e., it rejects dogmatism). It is an expansive and creative form of research, not a limiting form of research. It is inclusive, pluralistic, and complimentary…” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 17)
Characteristics of quantitative research – “focus on deduction, confirmation, theory/hypothesis testing, explanation, prediction, standardized data collection, and statistical analysis” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 18)
Characteristics of qualitative research – “induction, discovery, exploration, theory/hypothesis generation, the researcher as the primary “instrument” of data collection, and qualitative analysis.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 18)
Fundamental principle of mixed research – “researchers should collect multiple data using different strategies, approaches, and methods in such a way that the resulting mixture or combination is likely to result in complementary strengths and non-overlapping weaknesses. (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 18)
Mixed-model – “mixing qualitative and quantitative approaches within or across the stages of the research process.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 20)
Mixed-method –“the inclusion of a quantitative phase and a qualitative phase in an overall research study.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 20)
Five major purposes or rationales for conducting mixed methods research:
- triangulation (seeking convergence and corroboration of results)
- complementarity (seeking elaboration, enhancement, illustration and clarification)
- initiation (discovering paradoxes and contradictions)
- development (using findings from one method to inform another method)
- expansion (seeking to expand the breadth and range of research)
Onwuegbuzie and Teddlie’s seven-stage conceptualization of the mixed methods data analysis process:
- Data reduction – reducing the dimensionality of the qualitative and quantitative data
- Data display – describing pictorially the qualitative (i.e., list, charts) and quantitative (i.e., tables) data
- Data transformation – quantitative data are converted into narrative data that can be analyzed qualitatively (qualitized) and/or qualitative date are converted into numerical codes that can be represented statistically (quantitized)
- Data correlation – the quantitative data being correlated with the qualitized data or the qualitative data being correlated with the quantitized data.
- Data consolidation – both qualitative and quantitative data are combined to create new or consolidated variables or data sets
- Data comparison – comparing data from the qualitative and quantitative data sources
- Data integration – final stage, both quantitative and qualitative data are integrated into either a coherent whole or two separate sets of coherent wholes.
Legitimation – assessing the trustworthiness of both the qualitative and quantitative data and subsequent interpretations. (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 22)
Quotes
“The goal of mixed methods research is not to replace either of these approaches but rather to draw from the strengths and minimized the weaknesses of both in single research studies and across studies.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 14)
This succinctly points out the benefits of this methodology and why it could be considered to be the strongest and most accurate form of research methodology.
“We contend that researchers and research methodologists need to be asking when each research approach is most helpful and when and how they should be mixed or combined in their research studies.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 15)
This quote prompts me to think about the questions that I have and how I might approach them in my research. I recognize that the choices that I make will determine the validity and the reliability of my study and these are areas that need to be decided with great care.
“Today’s research world is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, complex, and dynamic; therefore, many researchers need to complement one method with another, and all researchers need a solid understanding of multiple methods used by other scholars to facilitate communication, to promote collaboration, and to provide superior research.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 15)
With the implementation and worldwide use of the internet, research has become far more complex. With people able to access a variety of information and opinion at the touch of a finger, we as researcher’s need to alter our research methods to take into consideration the ability of our work to be challenged. If we make the effort and use a paradigm that help to use to strengthen our hypotheses and to minimize the aspects that can be challenged, we are able to develop stronger more accurate data that is subject to less scrutiny.
“– research methods should follow research questions in a way that offers the best chance to obtain useful answers.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 17)
I chose this quote because I felt that it should be the way researcher should be approaching their studies. While it is important to maintain a professional objective approach to legitimize a study, it is also very important to garner the best possible information from the subjects, often with studies with a human element; we need to use the tools or methods that will be best suited to gain the most knowledge and understanding.
“…a key point that mixed methods research truly opens up an exciting and almost unlimited potential for future research.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 20)
I found this to be an interesting statement. The idea that the purpose of the research is to open itself and the subject up to further research is decidedly an interpretive research characteristic. I posted it because I believe that some answers are needed in order for us to be able to generate further in depth or more meaningful questions.
“…we recommend contingency theory for research approach selection, which accepts that quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research are all superior under different circumstances and it is the researcher’s task to examine the specific contingencies and make the decision about which research approach, or which combination of approaches should be used in a specific study.” (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pg. 22)
When we look at performing research, it is quite daunting. This quote gives credibility and justification for choosing this method as well as the ability to defend researcher’s approach to a given study. While any approach taken must be defendable, it reminds us that there is flexibility in our research paradigm that allows us to find better in depth answers for our questions.
References
James, W. (1995, 1907). Pragmatism. New York: Dover.
Johnson, R.B. & Onwuegbuzie, A.J. (2004). Mixed Methods Research: A Research Paradigm Whose Time Has Come, Educational Researcher, 33(7), 14-26.
Murphy, J.P. (1990). Pragmatism: From Peirce to Davidson. Boulder, CO: Westview