|
Methodology occupies a high status in the social sciences. No longer is it the poor relation of social theory. Within the wide ranging field of methodology, mixed methods research is a growth area. Combining methods is however not new. In the past, mixed methods, like methodology in general, were integrated into the practice of research. Mixed methods research again is moving into a new phase. Unlike many of the mixed methods studies conducted in the past which, typically, involved large or medium sized teams, many novice researchers are working on their own smaller scale projects and carrying them out either alone or in small teams. The contributors to this book are from the fields of health, management, information sciences, and education. Mixed Methods for the Novice Researcher provides much for the novice researcher to reflect upon with plenty of detailed worked examples. Analysis issues are discussed by Onwuegbuzie et al who present a range of analysis techniques involving case-oriented and variable-oriented analyses exemplified by the method of constant comparison and multiple regression, respectively. The authors set this discussion in relation to the types of generalisation that can be made. The next paper by Niglas reviews mixed methods studies, paying attention to issues of research design. It shows the novice researcher how important it is to deconstruct a research design into its different aspects and to examine the relationship between the aspects. The importance of the logic of enquiry is underlined in which attention has to be given to the timing and ordering of methods, to the logic of integration built into the design, and to such matters as how and the degree to which the qualitative and quantitative elements of the research are linked. The third paper (by Molina-Azorin) also is based on a review of mixed methods studies which were published in a management journal between 1997 and 2006. The novice researcher is alerted to the different purposes which mixed method designs serve. Most common is the purpose of ‘facilitation’ (73.7% of the articles). Here the qualitative phase made it possible to develop and test theory in the quantitative phase or it enabled improvements to be made to the measurement instrument in the quantitative phase. The next most common purpose was clarification; the results of one method are clarified by those generated by another method. The fourth paper (by Pluye and colleagues) focuses on the rarely discussed issue of what to do when research results are divergent. It critically reviews nine mixed method studies which reported divergent results. The fifth paper by Christ and Makarani offers a detailed account of an empirical study of communicative language teaching (CLT) in which authors describe an embedded mixed methods research design. The final paper (by Kawamura and colleagues) represents an example of divergence, in which path analysis was used in combination with grounded theory. In the exemplar study discussed within this paper, concerning parasocial interaction and self-efficacy and physical activity, the grounded theory part of the study helped to identify factors that were not in the path analysis and, thereby, helped to explain an association between a dependent variable and the independent variables that were entered into the path analysis. On the other hand, the path analysis revealed a significant relation not shown up in the grounded theory analysis. So what are the new challenges for mixed method research? One challenge, relates to the increasing recognition given to the international dimension. Mixed methods research designs have an important part to play in cross-national comparative research which is increasingly in demand. Mixed methods enable the researcher to go beyond the study of international trends and differences and to pay attention also to cultures, classes, ethnicities, and gender within and across societies.
|
First time to eBooks.com?
