An overview of mixed methods research

Abstract

Mixed methods research is viewed as the third methodological movement and as an approach it has much to offer health and social science research. Its emergence was in response to the limitations of the sole use of quantitative or qualitative methods and is now considered by many a legitimate alternative to these two traditions. Purists’ view of the dichotomy between positivist and non-positivist philosophies is prevalent; however, mixed methods afford researchers an opportunity to overcome this ‘false dichotomy’. The philosophical underpinning of pragmatism allows and guides mixed methods researchers to use a variety of approaches to answer research questions that cannot be addressed using a singular method. In particular, healthcare researchers may benefit from the opportunity to use such a dynamic approach to address the complex and multi-faceted research problems often encountered in the health care sector.

Unraveling triadic communication in hospital consultations with adolescents with chronic conditions: The added value of mixed methods research

“…A review of 75 MMR studies in healthcare in the UK found that researchers often ignored their mixed methods design and described only the separate components [32]. Considerable experience and expertise -both in qualitative and quantitative research traditions -would seem to be needed to achieve good integration and good study outcomes [52]. In our case, the project leader, originally purely schooled in qualitative methods, learned to handle quantitative methods as well.…”

Mixed methods research in The South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences: An investigation of trends in the literature

“…That led to the emergence of terms such as multi-method research, nested analysis, multiple stranding, mixing, blending, combining and integrating in dealing with both research perspectives. We deliberately prefer to use the term mixed methods research (MMR) as it has gained currency in the extant literature (Doyle, Brady & Byrne, 2009) and it captures nicely the essence of combining research methodologies better than the other terms. MMR is an: umbrella term applying to almost any situation where more than one methodological approach is used in combination with another, usually, but not essentially, involving a combination of at least some elements drawn from each of qualitative and quantitative approaches to research (Bazeley, 2008:133).…”

Innovation and sustainability in a large-scale healthcare improvement collaborative - seven propositions for achieving system-wide innovation and sustainability

“…This mixed methods approach was adopted in order to provide a deeper and richer understanding (Agnew and Flin, 2013) of large-scale improvement collaborative. This approach of using a mixed-methods model is also acknowledged by others (Doyle et al, 2009;O'Cathain et al, 2010); and is now becoming the dominant paradigm in healthcare research. The type of topology of the mixed methods design we used was a qualitative + quantitative, where the two methods -qualitative (QUAL) and quantitative (quan) were undertaken concurrently, but the dominant status was the qualitative study (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004;Creswell and Plano Clark, 2007).…”