Designing and Conducting

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Designing and Conducting

Mixed

MethodsResearch

John W. Creswell

Vicki L. Plano Clark

University of Nebraska-Lincoln


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DESIGNING AND CND!C"ING #I$ED #E"%DS

&ESEA&C%

This first chapter addresses

A 'ra(ework 'or )iewing (i*ed (ethods research

A de'inition o' (i*ed (ethods research+ and

"he i(,ortance o' this a,,roach+ historicall- and toda-

PURPOSE AND ORGANIZATION

ecause (i*ed (ethods is a new design+ researchers need an introduction to the

a,,roach+ guidance as to how to conduct the design+ and in'or(ation a/out the

s,eci'ic ,rocedures in)ol)ed. "he ,ur,ose o' this /ook is to ,ro)ide researchers with

an introduction to (i*ed (ethods research

the ,rocess in)ol)ed in designing and conducting this 'or( o' in0uir-+ and

within this ,rocess+ a 'ocus on 'our t-,es o' (i*ed (ethods designs

"wo ke- ele(ents 'or( the central 'eatures o' this /ook1 the ,hases in the

,rocess o' (i*ed (ethods research and 'our s,eci'ic (i*ed (ethods designs.

"he ,rocess ,hases ad)anced in this /ook /uild on the ,reli(inar- ste,s that we

,ro)ided se)eral -ears ago 2Creswell+ 34445 Creswell+ Goodchild+ 6

"urner+34478. We ha)e now re'ined these ste,s+ /ased on our e*,eriences with

(i*ed (ethods research through classes+ worksho,s+ and our own (i*ed

(ethods studies. We recogni9e that reducing research to ,hases in the ,rocess o'

research runs the risk o' o)ersi(,li'-ing the ,rocedures+ suggesting an

unwa)ering+ linear a,,roach to research. %owe)er+ we )iew the ,rocess not as a

series o' lock:ste, ,rocedures /ut as a general 'ra(ework that (ight /e use'ul to


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/eginning researchers as well as those alread- conducting and re)iewing (i*ed

(ethods research. ne (ight ,roceed to use the ,hases in a di''erent order than

we ,resent the(: use the( in a wa- that (akes sense 'or a s,eci'ic research

,ro/le(.

"he additional 'ocus on 'our ke- (i*ed (ethods designs also /uilds on our

earlier work 2Creswell+ ;


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!sing >igure 3.3 as our guide+ lets assu(e that a researcher is considering designing

and conducting a (i*ed (ethods stud-. We would reco((end that this indi)idual'irst de)elo, an understanding o' (i*ed (ethods research to see i' the ,roect 'its the

t-,e o' ,ro/le(s and research 0uestions related to (i*ed (ethods2Cha,ter 38. "his(ight /e 'ollowed /- the researchers considering a co('orta/le world)iew stance'or the research and knowing 2or re)iewing8 the /asics o' /oth 0uantitati)e and

0ualitati)e research 2Cha,ter ;8. In addition+ the in0uirer needs to assess whether theresearch ,ro/le( (erits a (i*ed (ethods stud- 2Cha,ter ;8. >ollowing this+ the

researcher (ight locate ,u/lished (i*ed

Antici,ate (i*ed (ethods

0uestions 2Cha,ter 48

Contri/ute to the (i*ed(ethods literature

2Cha,ter 3ra(ework !sed in "his ook 'or Designing and Conducting #i*ed #ethods &esearch


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and di)iding /etween 0uantitati)e and 0ualitati)e onl- ser)es to narrow the

a,,roaches and colla/oration to in0uir-.

#i*ed (ethods research encourages the use o' (ulti,le world)iews or

,aradig(s rather than the t-,ical association o' certain ,aradig(s 'or0uantitati)e researchers and others 'or 0ualitati)e researchers. It also

encourages us to think a/out a ,aradig( that (ight enco(,ass all o'

0uantitati)e and 0ualitati)e research+ such as ,rag(atis(+ or using (ulti,le,aradig(s in research+ as discussed 'urther in cha,ter ;.

#i*ed (ethods research is ,racticalF in the sense that the researcher is 'ree

to use all (ethods ,ossi/le to address a research ,ro/le(. It is also

,racticalF /ecause indi)iduals tend to sol)e ,ro/le(s using /oth nu(/ersand words+ the- co(/ine inducti)e and deducti)e thinking+ and the-2e.g.+thera,ists8 e(,t- e(,lo- skills in o/ser)ing ,eo,le as well as recording

/eha)ior. It is natural+ then+ 'or indi)iduals to e(,lo- (i*ed (ethods

research as the ,re'erred (ode o' understanding the world. When ,eo,le talka/out the atrina de)astation in the southern !nited States+ /oth words and

nu(/ers co(e to (ind. "his t-,e o' talk is not onl- (ore natural+ it is also(ore ,ersuasi)e than either words or nu(/ers /- the(sel)es in ,resenting a

co(,lete ,icture o' the de)astation.

Des,ite its )alue+ conducting (i*ed (ethods research is not eas-. It takes ti(e andresources to collect and anal-9e /oth 0uantitati)e and 0ualitati)e data. It co(,licates

the ,rocedures o' research and re0uires clear ,resentation i' the reader is going to /e

a/le to sort out the di''erent ,rocedures. >urther+ in)estigators are o'ten trained inonl- one 'or( o' in0uir-20uantitati)e or 0ualitati)e8+ and (i*ed (ethods re0uires

that the- know /oth 'or(s o' data. "hese issues are i(,ortant+and we return to the(in Cha,ter 4+ /ut the- are not insur(ounta/le+ and strategies can /e used to address

the(."he )alue o' (i*ed (ethods research see(s to outweigh the ,otential di''icult-

o' this a,,roach.

Studies That Fit Our Defi"itio"


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A study employing minimum qualitative research. Consider a sur)e-

stud- that includes a 'ew o,en:ended 0uestions as ,art o' the sur)e-. "he

researcher anal-9es the 0ualitati)e res,onses to )alidate the 0uantitati)e'indings.Is this a (i*ed (ethods stud-H "he 0ualitati)e data (a- consist o'

short sentences and /rie' co((ents+ hardl- the t-,e o' 0ualitati)e data thatin)ol)es rich conte*t and detailed in'or(ation 'ro( ,artici,ants 2#orse 6

&ichards+ ;

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Designing and Conducting