how to design a mixed methods study by john w. creswell, ph.d. and vicki l. plano clark, m.s....
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How to Design a Mixed Methods Study
by John W. Creswell, Ph.D. and Vicki L. Plano Clark, M.S.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Andrews University, July, 2004
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How would you combine two types of data?
Qualitative Text Data
This is a sample of a text file of words that might be collected on transcripts through interviews, fieldnotes from observations, or from optically-scanned documents.
Quantitative Numeric Data
234254311223213223322543312243243213243332334441222211143214321322111555233143243213243332135432
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Objectives of the workshop:
Let’s design a mixed methods study Let’s study how people learn mixed
methods research in this room? (or you can work on your own project and follow along at each step)
Let’s start with a title. Write a title. What data will we collect?
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What are types of quantitative and qualitative data?
Quantitative data Close-ended
scales Attitudinal/
behavioral scales Behavioral
checklists Census,
attendance records
Qualitative data Open-ended
responses Semi-structured
interviews Semi-structured
observations Records/
documents Videotapes
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Let’s identify our quantitative and qualitative data collection
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Now let’s consider some reasons for why we are collecting (and mixing) both forms of data Together quantitative and qualitative data provide both
precise measurement and generalizability of quantitative research and the in-depth, complex picture of qualitative research
To validate quantitative results with qualitative data We do not have an adequate instrument. Thus, we need
to explore views and develop an instrument Our quantitative data provide a general explanation and
we need to follow-up with participants and have them explain the quantitative results
In our experiment, outcomes to be measured are not enough; they need to be complemented by understanding the process of participants
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Let’s identify our reason for mixing
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So…
There are good reasons for gathering both forms of data
But…there are certain requirements for this to work best
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Requirement #1: Now let’s consider whether we have the skills, time, and resources?
We need minimum skills in both qualitative and quantitative data collection. What do we need?
We need time and resources for extensive data collection and analysis. How much time and resources do we need?
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Write down the skills, time, and resources we will need
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Requirement #2: The audience(s)
Does our audience appreciate both numbers and stories?
Are they familiar with this design? Do they need to be educated? Are examples of published studies
available in our content area?
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Let’s identify the audiences
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But audiences may not recognize it yet because it is so new
Increased use and acceptance of qualitative research from 1990’s to present
The complexity of our research problems today requires understanding trends, differences, as well as individual stories, setting
Individuals advocating for and writing about mixed methods research as a distinct, new procedure (e.g., books)
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They may think that it is analyzing data separately
Quantitative Data Qualitative Data
Mixing: converging the data or connectingthe data
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But how do we mix?
Converge data:
Qual QuanResults
Connect data:
Qual Quan Results
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Why our audience may recognize it
The evidence Books Methodological articles Many published research studies
using it Federal agencies Private foundations
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Other writings, initiatives on mixed methods research: Research studies reported in journals Methodological articles exploring issues
and procedures Website for bringing mixed methods
writers together Conference sessions Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social
and Behavioral Research Private foundation interest; federal
agency interest
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NIH Guidelines
- Mentioned severalapproaches for combiningqualitative and quantitative research
- Considerations for deciding what model to use (literatureavailable, prior studies, realistic design, expertise)
- Need to describe each method thoroughly
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Quotes: “Combining qualitative and quantitative
methods has gained broad appeal in public health research. The key question has become not whether it is acceptable or legitimate to combine methods, but rather how they will be combined to be mutually supportive and how findings achieved through different methods will be integrated.” (NIH, Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research, 1999).
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National Academy of Sciences
Three major research questions inquality educational research:
• What is happening? (qualitative designs)
• Is there a systematic effect? (a quantitative experiment)
• Why or how it is happening? (a qualitative followup)
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But even if they recognize it, they may not appreciate or understand how to design a mixed methods study
“We are interested in a randomized control trial with a non-experimental approach embedded within it.” (a private foundation officer)
“We accept multi-method studies, but investigators mostly do not sort out the complexity of these projects so that we can understand them.” (a federal projects officer).
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We need to define mixed methods research for our audiences
Mixed methods research is a design for collecting, analyzing, and mixing both quantitative and qualitative data in a single study or series of studies to understand a research problem.
The purpose of this form of research is that both qualitative and quantitative methods, in combination, provide a better understanding of a research problem or issue than either method alone.
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Now we could mix within single studies or multiple studies
Single Study:
Results
QualQuan
Multiple Studies (called multimethod research):
Study 1 Study 2 Study 3 Study 4
Quan Qual Qual Quan
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So how do we design a mixed methods study? The model
Type of mixed methods design
Procedures for:•designing the title•writing the introduction to a study•writing the purpose statement and research questions/hypotheses•data collection•data analysis•writing the mixed methods report•evaluating the mixed methods research
Worldviews, theoretical frameworks, problem and research question, skills, resources
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What is a worldview? Philosophy about your preferences for how
you learn about something through research
You prefer the quantitative worldview: you are the expert, you decide what needs to be learned, you build in objectivity
You prefer the qualitative worldview: participant is the expert, participant helps you build knowledge, you bring personal bias in
You prefer both the quantitative and qualitative worldview
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The next steps in planning our study
Let’s write the overall research question for our study
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Then let’s choose a type of mixed methods study to conduct
What designs are possible?
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Types of mixed methods designs
I. Triangulation Mixed Methods Design
II. Nested Mixed Methods Design
QUANData and Results
QUANPre-testData and Results
+ QUALData and Results
QUANPost-testData and Results
Interpretation
Qual Process
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Types of mixed methods designs
III. Explanatory Mixed Methods Design
IV. Exploratory Mixed Methods Design
QUANData and Results
QUALData and Results
qualData and Results
quanData and Results
Follow-up
Building
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Triangulation Design: Characteristics
Collecting both quantitative and qualitative data
Collecting these data at the same time in the research procedure
Analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data separately
Comparing or combining the results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis
Example: collect survey data (quantitative) and collect individual interviews (qualitative) and then compare the results
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Triangulation Design: When is it used? When you want to combine the
advantages of quantitative (trends, large numbers, generalization) with qualitative (detail, small numbers, in-depth)
When you want to validate your quantitative findings with qualitative data
When you want to expand your quantitative findings with some open-ended qualitative data (e.g., survey with closed- and open-ended data)
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Nested Design: Characteristics
Collecting both quantitative and qualitative data Collecting both types of data at the same time Having ONE form of data play a smaller role in the
study than the other form of data Also,
Using one form of data to answer one question; the other form another question
Collecting one form of data at one level of analysis and another at another level of analysis
Example: You conduct an experiment and during the experiment you gather qualitative interview data. The outcomes of the experiment assessed quantitatively address different questions than the process of the experiment explored qualitatively.
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Nested Design: When is it used? When you do not have time or
resources to commit to extensive quantitative and qualitative data collection
When you want to study the process of an experiment as well as the outcomes
When you want to examine different levels in an organization
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QuanData collectionPre-test
QuanData collectionPost-test
Process – collectionand analysis of qualitative
data
Nested Research Design
Experiment
Intervention
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Explanatory Sequential Design: Characteristics Viewing the study as a two-phase project Collecting quantitative data first followed
by collecting qualitative data second Typically, a greater emphasis is placed
on the quantitative data in the study Example: You first conduct a survey and
then follow up with a few individuals who answered positively to the questions through interviews
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Explanatory Sequential Design: When do you use it?
When you want to explain the quantitative results in more depth with qualitative data (e.g., statistical differences among groups, individuals who scored at extreme levels)
When you want to identify appropriate participants to study in more depth qualitatively
Here is an example of an explanatory design:
Quantitative Data*
Number of cigarettes CES-D6
Qualitative Data*
Semi-structured interviews, audio recorded and transcribed
* Data collected 10 times over the course of a
calendar year for 40 participants
Quantitative Analysis
Graphic plot of CES-D6 scores over time for each participant Graphic plot of cigarettes/day values over time for each participant
Case Selection
Qualitative Analysis
Description of each case
Identification of life events occurring during critical months where
smoking increased or decreased
Thematic analysis of life events for each
case Cross-case thematic
analysis
Interpretation
Why did changes in smoking occur?
Quantitative Data Collection(quan)
Qualitative Data Collection
Interpretation –based on quanand QUAL results
Qualitative Data Analysis(QUAL)
Case Selection Quantitative
Data Analysis(quan)
Selected 5 casesmaximally varyingIdentified criticalmonths in which smoking varied
Creswell et al. (in progress)
+
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Exploratory Sequential Design: Characteristics Viewing the study as a two-phase project Qualitative data collection precedes
quantitative data collection Typically, greater emphasis is placed on
the qualitative data in the study Example: You collect qualitative diary
entries, analyze the data for themes, and then develop an instrument based on the themes to measure attitudes on a quantitative survey administered to a large sample.
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Exploratory Sequential Design: When do you use it? To develop an instrument when
one is not available (first explore, then develop instrument)
To develop a classification or typology for testing
To identify the most important variables to study quantitatively when these variable are not known
Phase I Qualitative Research - Year 1
Qualitative Data Collection Unstructured Interviews -50 participants 8 observations at the site16 documents
Qualitative Data Analysis Text Analysis: Using QSR N6
Qualitative FindingsDevelopment of codes and themesfor each site
Phase II Quantitative Research - Year 2
Quantitative Instrument Development
Quantitative Test of the Instrument
Create approximately a 80-iteminstrument plus demographics
Administer survey to 500 individuals
Determine factor structure of items and conduct reliability analysis for scales
Quantitative ResultsDetermine how groups differusing ANOVA test
Sequential Exploratory Mixed Methods Design
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How will we analyze the quantitative and qualitative data (within the design types)?
Qualitative analysis Text/image data Coding Themes Description Interrelated
themes
Types of analysis: Quantitative
analysis Numeric data Descriptive trend
analysis Hypothesis
testing, effect size, interval estimates
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Triangulation data analysis
QUANdata collection
QUANdata analysis
QUALdata collection
QUAL data analysis
Results
• Separate QUANand QUAL dataanalysis
• Two options• Data transformation (changeQUAL to QUAN or QUAN to QUAL)• Comparison (keep separate andcompare/contrast)
CountAdj.Count** Row PctColumn Pct
PatientsN=2
PhysiciansN=4
Medical AssistantsN=4
Themes
FamiliarityWith the Form
136.541.95.8
174.2527.43.0
194.7530.75.3
4915.5100.0
Reactions to the Form
2311.522.210.2
10025.048.317.4
6115.329.516.9
18451.75100.0
Use for Managing Depression
6733.538.629.8
17744.2551.030.7
369.010.410.0
28086.75100.0
Changes to the Form
11557.537.551.1
19649.032.034.0
18746.830.551.7
498153.3100.0
Situational Use of the Form
73.58.93.1
8621.554.414.9
5814.536.716.1
15139.5100.0
225112.5100.0
576144.0100.0
36190.3100.0
Table. Example of Data Transformation of Text Units into Numeric Data
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QuanData collectionPre-test
QuanData collectionPost-test
Qualitative Process
Nested data analysis
Post-test scoresor gain scores
Themes/Codes/Interrelated Themes
Pre-testscores
DataAnalysis
Compare/Describe Results
Quantitative Experiment
Intervention
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Explanatory sequential data analysis
QUANdata analysis
• Statistical results• Outlier cases• Extreme cases
Qual data collection(purposeful sampling)
• Select cases based on s.d. variables• Select cases to represent outliers• Select cases to represent extreme cases• Select cases to make group comparisons
Qualanalysis
• codes• themes• cases
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Exploratory sequential data analysis
QUAL data analysis
Quotes
Codes
Themes
Quan data analysisinstrument development
Items on a survey
Variables on a survey
Scales on a survey
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Let’s identify how we will analyze the data
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Drawing our Design
Let’s draw a picture of our design Identify the type of design Add in data collection Add in data analysis Show the flow of activities Add in “products” for our
audiences
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Helpful tips for creating this visual:
1. Give a title to the visual model.2. Choose either horizontal or vertical layout for the model.3. Draw boxes for quantitative and qualitative stages of data
collection, data analysis and interpretation of the study results.
4. Use capitalized (QUAN) or small letters (quan) to designate priority of quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis.
5. Use single-headed arrows to show the flow of procedures in the design.
6. Specify procedures for each quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis stage.
7. Specify expected products or outcomes of each quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis procedure.
8. Make your model simple.9. Size your model to one page.
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Now let’s rework our purpose statement using some scripts
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“The purpose of this concurrent mixed methods study is to better understand a research problem by converging both quantitative (numeric) and qualitative (text or image) data. In this approach, ___________ (quantitative instruments) will be used to measure the relationship between the ________ (independent variables) and __________ (dependent variables). At the same time in the study, the __________ (central phenomenon) will be explored using _____________ (qualitative interviews, documents, observations, visual materials) with _________ (participants) at ____________ (the research site).”
Sample Script for a Concurrent Design(Triangulation or Nested)
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“The purpose of this two-phase, exploratory mixed methods study will be to explore participant views with the intent of using this information to develop and test an instrument with a sample from a population. The first phase will be a qualitative exploration of a _______(central phenomenon) by collecting ___________(data) from ____________ (participants) at _______ (research site). Themes from this qualitative data will then be developed into an instrument (or survey) so that the __________ (theory and research questions/hypotheses) can be tested that ________ (relate, compare) ____________ (independent variable) with __________ (dependent variable) for _________(sample of a population) at _________ (research site).”
Sample Script for a Sequential Exploratory Design
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“The purpose of this two-phase, explanatory mixed methods study will be to obtain statistical, quantitative results from a sample and then follow-up with a few individuals to probe or explore those results in more depth. In the first phase, quantitative research questions or hypotheses will address the relationship or comparison of __________ (independent) and ________ (dependent) variables with ___________ (participants) at ___________(the research site). In the second phase, qualitative interviews or observations will be used to problem significant _______(quantitative results) by exploring aspects of the ________ (central phenomenon) with_______ (a few participants) at ____________ (research site).”
Sample Script for a Sequential Explanatory Design
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Criteria for evaluating our plan:
Use appropriate terminology for title and design
Provide a rationale for mixing and include it early in the study (“when you use…”)
Create a mixed methods purpose statement
Identify types of qual and quan data to be collected and qual and quan data analysis steps
Include a visual/procedural diagram of methods with timeline
Use rigorous procedures for the quantitative data collection and analysis
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Let’s share our drawings of our mixed methods procedures
How to Design a Mixed Methods Study
by John W. Creswell, Ph.D. and Vicki L. Plano Clark, M.S.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Andrews University, July, 2004