IP • ' "IJ-MjM.

C h a p t e r l 2

UnderstandingMixed-Methods Articles

Mixed-Methods Articles Attempt to Combine the Advantages

of Both Types of Research 190

The Mixed-Methods Approach Is Still Somewhat Controversia! 190

In Practice, There Are Usually Two Types of Mixed-Methods Articles 191

Our Emerging Research Literacy 200

Practice Makes Perfect 201

IX 1_ O U f*\V

You should congratúlate yourself at this point. You have now established that, withsome work, you can read an article from its title to its discussion section. You might notbe able to work out every technical or precise detail, but you do have a sense of whatthe researchers are trying to accomplish and why they used the methods and analysesthat they did. This is quite an accomplishment, and you should be proud of yourself.

At this point, however, you might run into articles that are somewhat con-fusing. They appear to be qualitative, but they might cite statistical data and testhypotheses. Or they might appear to be quantitative, but they use interview data andquotes and observations to make certain points. Should you consider these articlesto be qualitative or quantitative, or what?

Actually, these sorts of articles are examples of an emerging category ofresearch articles—mixed-methods articles. In this chapter, we will look at the basicsof these sorts of articles, by examining two actual mixed-methods articles (whichcan be found in Appendix I). Before we look at the actual articles, however, we needto make a few general points about these sorts of articles.

Mixed-Methods Articles Attempt to Combinethe Advantages of Both Types of Research

The basic goal behind mixed-methods research is praiseworthy. If each type ofresearch can give us certain kinds of knowledge and insight, would not a combina-tion of these methods give us an even better set of findings?

In other words, the driving motivation behind mixed methods is the desire toget the whole story, as much as possible. If abstract patterns of numbers can tell usone thing about a phenomenon, what will a set of verbal descriptions tell us that wecould not get from abstractions? If a compelling narrative illustrates an importan!point, what happens when we try to nail down the particulars of that point usingobjective methods?

The rallying cry for most mixed-methods advocates is the notion that theresearch question determines the method, and not the other way around. Thesesupporters advise us to look at what questions we want to ask and not worry aboutmethod. Once we are clear on the question, they say, we use the best methods pos-sible to answer that question. If it is qualitative or quantitative, then so be it. In moreand more cases, though, they argüe, the best method is to use both methods.

The Mixed-Methods Approach Is StillSomewhat Gontroversial

As with most everything, there are usually two sides to every story. The controversialside to mixed methods is the implicit assumption that all forms of research are, at heart,the same. This is far from a settled matter. For instance, look at the two chapters mthis work on basic qualitative and basic quantitative literacies. From these chapters,we can see that practitioners of each method often look at the world in quite differentways. Can these worldviews be that easily reconciled, so that their methods can bemixed together readily and commonly? The answer to these questions will require

much thought and practice in the field, and so for now it is probably best to keep al1

open mind on the extent of the role of mixed methods in educational research.

_ . , ^ _ , x ~ - A A I N U M I N G M I X b U - M b I HO D 5 A R T 1 1

In Practice, There Are Usually Two Typesof Mixed-Methods Articles

When we actually look at published mixed-methods articles, we tend to find themgravitating into one of two camps. An article is usually basically a quantitative article,with a qualitative section designed to add "flesh to the bones" of the numerical orstatistical findings. We can cali this a Quantitative Enhanced by Qualitative article.On the other hand, we might have a qualitative article that incorporates quantitativefindings to drive home a point or nail down some finding more precisely. We can calithis a Qualitative Driving Quantitative article. We will look at specific examples ofeach type of article in turn:

Quantitative Enhanced by Qualitative

(Our first mixed-methods article is by Worrall, and it deals with building a research.culture in a school. Worrall asked the following three research questions:

Why do teachers decide to carry out classroom-based research?

How do teachers feel about doing research?

Why do teachers choose to further develop or neglect their skills in undertak-ing classroom-based research?

JTo answer these questions, Worrall began working with a group of six schools in the1UK to get participants:

With the assistance of the teacher research coordinators in three other part-ner schools, I drew up a sample of seven teachers from each school, 28 in all. . . .The sample of 28 consisted of a relatively experienced group of teachers withcomparatively little experience of research. For example, of the 18 teacherswho had been teaching for more than 15 years, only three of them had beenactively involved in research.

Once she had identified her participants, Worrall implemented the following mixed-methods research design:

The TRCs [teaching research coordinators] were asked to distribute a ques-tionnaire to the selection of their colleagues who had been involved in researchprojects of various kinds. This was designed to establish the teachers' experi-ence of, and general attitudes towards, research. Semi-structured interviewswith 12 (three TRCs, two assistant head teachers, two heads of department,two heads of year, three mainscale teachers) of the sample then followed togenérate qualitative data to ¡Ilústrate the main concerns identified through thequestionnaires.

Regarding the questionnaire, Worrall reports the findings from the ques-"Why did you decide to carry out classroom-based research?" The results are

Tabíe 12.1 Question: Why did you decide to carry out classroom-based research?

Reasons No.

To genérate greater understanding of specific issues in teaching and/or learning 23

To solve immediate problems 10

Effective self-directed continuing professional development 9

To regain professional control over and confidence ¡n what happens in own 9classroom

Part of higher degree/programme giving access to promotion 8

To satisfy ¡ntellectual curiosity about ¡ssues of teaching and learning ¿

To capitalise on collaboration with colleagues 5

To provide evidence and feedback on aspects of School Improvement Plan 5

As part of reflective practico 4

To promote development of teaching as evidence-based profession 4

To provide data for external researchers 3

presented in Table 12.1. Eleven choices were tabulated. The most common, with 23responses, was "To genérate greater understanding of specific issues in teachingand/or learning." The least common, with three responses, was "To provide data forexternal researchers."

After gatheríng the results of the questionnaire, Worrall trien turned to semi-structured interviews in order to gather additional data. It should be noted thatsemi-structured interviews are very popular in mixed-methods designs. In this tech-nique, great care is taken to make sure that each participant is asked the same setof questions. This is done for two reasons. First of all, it provides a way to emulatethe same degree of consistency of response that we find when questionnaires areused. That is, we can make sure that each participant has the same data-gatheringexperiences. Second, semi-structured interviews can be tightly and explicitly linkedto the issues that were addressed in the questionnaires. In this way, there is a bridgebetween the two modes of data gathering and analysis.

In the interview data we find the emergence of the qualitative side of this study,where the questionnaire results can be fleshed out. Worrall asked four basic ques-tions—why did you get involved in research, what are your reasons for carrying outresearch, why do you choose to continué to do research, and why did you stop doingresearch? Here are a few representative answers to each question:

Why did you get involved in research?

I was living in a milieu where a lot of research was going on and [Ñame] in par-ticular, you know, being an educational researcher would throw books at me andsay. 'Look, what do you think of this?' So that's how I became interested.

So, because I was in a group and you had to come and share ideas and thenin the end we knew we were actually trying to get something that was goodenough to publish. In a way it forces and disciplines you though into finding a11

idea that's worth turning over and telling someone.

U N D E R S T A N D I N G M I X E D - M E T H O D S A R

What are your reasons for carrying out research?

Well I think it's something that. . . I won't say 'good teachers' but any teacherwho wants to do the Job properly, almost inevitably does. I remember you talk-ing about definitions of research and one idea that carne to me was a willing-ness to think about experiences in the classroom and to answer questions,mainly why did this happen. Now it may . . . I don't now, you don't get thatmuch chance to talk to teachers but I imagine that others might come outof the classroom and say, 'that was terrible. Why?' and for whatever reason,perfectly good reasons maybe, be distracted so they don't actually investígate.My personality is such that when I get into the situation of why did that happenand why is that happening now when it didn't happen then, it's something thatbugs me until I get it sorted out.

For me it is investigating the process, furthering your education, investigat-ing in order to reflect, gathering information.

Why do you choose to continué to do research?

It frees your thinking— It refuels you. . . it's about keeping doors open, keep-ing ideas open, keeping things flowing.

For some colleagues, I know last year two of them said that it was the thingthat they enjoyed most and I know some of their colleagues I'm working withthis year on their research project are really, really enjoying it. They're excitedabout it. For example, one of our sénior teachers spent the whole of yesterdayin a library and he's worked here for over 30 years and I think it's probably thefirst time in those 30 years that he's actually been working, doing a normalschool day in the library reading and he said, 'I can't wait to tell you.' You know,'Have you got any free time today' and sadly I haven't but it's really exciting forsomebody to have worked that long and to have that kind of enthusiasm I thinkthat is really important. It won't necessarily affect his teaching at all but whathe's interested in looking at is any social inclusión and attendance which woulddirectly affect the way he teaches his subject but I think that also is one ofthe things that we're looking at when we're looking at the impact of research.There are other factors that are really, really important.

It is a lot easier to carry out research activity if there is some sort of researchculture and I wonder if one could have research activity, meaningful researchactivity without some notion of a research . . . well, within the context of aresearch culture.

I think if the head wasn't interested it would be very difficult because thatwould then mean that they probably wouldn't give me any time. Without time,I think it would be impossible to do. Yeah, it's critical. Absolutely critical thatthe head is interested.

Why did you stop doing research?

It's time and getting caught up in the day-to-day things of your own life . . .when you're thinking about things that you have to do, you do the things thatyou absolutely have to do first.

I mentioned to one of our 'gender experts' that I was having my genderresearch published and she seemed surprised . .. you know, they don't sort ofrealise that actually what you are doing has some validity. . . . Perhaps that'spartly why people don't want to get involved because they realise that the aca-demic barrier is of suspicion and they don't feel even the smallest bit confidentabout trying to suggest they could do it because people are often embarrassed tosay they might be doing some research because it sounds very grand.

There might be those who are so stuck in their ways, personality-wise, notjust in teaching, in life generally, that even if they did read something that kindof made sense to them, they might not actually change.

Of all the kinds of mixed-methods árdeles, this type is most common. Thereseems to be a sense that qualitative findings are most useful in enriching and elab-orating results gathered in more traditional quantitative ways. For one thing, theresponses on the interviews could be useful in creating a more extensive question-naire to give to a larger sample of teachers in order to get a wider picture on thetopic. Perhaps there is a level of comfort in starting with well-established researchmethods, and using the newer and less established qualitative methods to enhancethe original design and results.

Qualítatíve Driving Quantítatíve

Qualitative articles using quantitative components are much rarer. This might bedue to the fact that qualitative researchers are less inclined to use quantitative meth-ods to buttress their efforts. There are a number of possible reasons for this. On onehand, qualitative researchers might feel that it is important to expand and extendthe nature of qualitative methods without "clouding the waters" with quantitativedata. These researchers might also feel that nailing down aspects of the study byusing quantitative methods might be premature. Finally, it might even be the casethat qualitative researchers are not as comfortable using quantitative methods asquantitative researchers might be in their own use of qualitative methods. That is,since quantitative methods are often more prescribed and focused, there is more ofa chance of methodological error in the application of quantitative methods than inthe application of qualitative methods. Or perhaps there are reasons that go beyondthese simple speculations. The result is the same—fewer qualitative researchersemploy mixed-methods designs than their quantitative counterparts.

For our purposes, we will look at a mixed-methods article by Swennen et al.This research is primarily qualitative. Like many qualitative articles, it begins bylaying out an explicit theoretical framework. They start by examining the nature oíteacher concerns:

Research on teachers' concerns draws heavily on the work of Fuller (1969).Fuller and Bown (1975) drew a distinction between the development of con-cerns of teachers and those of student teachers. In the case of student teach-ers, they distinguished four main stages of concerns. During the first stagepre-teaching concerns are dominant. Student teachers identify with pupils, butwith their teachers they do so only in their fantasies. After their first teach-ing experience, a radical change takes place. Idealized ideas about pupils are

N\ - M E l H U u A K I I

replaced by concerns about their own survival. Now the central question is,will I be able to manage the class? Next, student teachers develop concernsabout the teaching situation: they become concerned about methods and mate-rials and start looking for new ideas for their lessons. Still, these are concernsabout their own performance as a teacher and not concerns about pupils andtheir learning, which is the fourth category of concerns. At this fourth stage,student teachers have an eye for pupils' social and emotional needs and theybecome more focused on their relationships with individual children.

As research linking concerns and teacher cognitions began to develop, alter-native modes for measuring those cognitions and concerns also began to develop aswell. In particular, Swennen et al. became interested in the role of images as a way totap into these cognitions and concerns:

Calderhead (1989), among others, considers images to be a key factor inexplaining the professional development of teachers. Students enter pre-service teacher education with images about their future profession and theirown role as a teacher.... He presents an overview of different types of images,froni rather concrete to more abstract. On the highest level of abstraction,an image is a powerful metaphor with affective and moral connotations. On alower level, we find the images of an 'ideal teacher' that students sometimescarry with them as a result of experiences with positive role models. On a stilllower level are the images that student teachers have of the contents of particu-lar lessons, for example a mathematics lesson or a physics practical.

Swennen et al. operationalized the use of images in their research by lookingat drawings made by student teachers:

We focused on drawings that student teachers made about themselves in rela-tion to their teaching practice situation.

After developing this theoretical argument, the researchers then asked the follow-ing five explicit research questions:

1. What are the concerns of first year students at the beginning of theirpreparation programme?

2. What are their concerns after their first teaching practice period (inthe first year)?

3. What are their concerns at the end of the first year?4. What development in concerns, if any, occurs during the first year?5. Can concerns be assessed in a valid and reliable way using drawings?

Three sepárate modes of data collection were used to measure concerns. Onei of the modes was quantitative, and the other two were qualitative.

The first, and the quantitative, mode used was a card sorting process:

We developed the card sorting instrument not only as a research instrument,but also as an instrument that can be used to promote reflection by studentteachers about their own concerns. The instrument is based on the Teacher

Concern Checklist developed t>y Fuller and Borich (1988). The original check-list consisted of 50 ítems and was adapted until 16 Ítems remained. These 16ítems were transferred to cards and a set of cards was made for each student.Students were asked to rank the cards from the Ítem concerning them themost to the ítem concerning them the least or not at all. For each of the threemeasurements the mean rank number was calculated, as well as the standarddeviation. The ranking scores could be compared to assess an overall changein the development of concerns (using Friedman's test). The remarks of all thestudents were analysed in order to gain an insight into the students' interpreta-tions of the ítems.

Data for the rankings based on the card sorting instrument are reported in Table 12.2.

Pable 12.2 Scores for the three measurements of the instrument 'cards'

Ist measure(n = 35)

tem

1 . Diagnosing pupils with learningproblems

2. Selecting and teaching content well

3. Motivating pupils to learn

4. Adapting myself to the needs ofdifferent pupils

5. Becoming a good teacher

6. Staff collaboration

7. Adequately presenting all of therequired meteríais

8. Whether the pupils like me or not

9. Being fair and ¡mpartial

0. Getting a favourable evaluation frommy mentor

1 . The socio-pedagogical climate

2. Pupils who disrupt class

3. Too many non-instructional duties

4. Too many pupils ¡n one class

5. Lack of freedom to initiate innovative¡nstruction

6. Inadequate teaching salaries

Rank

1

2

3

4

5

ó

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Meanrankscore

4.6

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.6

7.6

8.2

8.5

8.8

8.9

9.0

9.7

11.1

11.3

12.5

14.1

able 2 in the article "Studying Student Teachers' Concerns,Research Techniques" ¡n Appendix 1

SD

2.

4.

3,3,

4.

34

44

3

43343

2

6

0

,5

,1

.8

.9

.0

.0

.5

.1

.3

.8

.9

.1

.6

.4

2nd measure(n = 28)

Rank

7

123

4

59

108ó

12

n14

13

15

16

Meanrankscore

7.9

4.1

4.4

4.8

4.9

6.9

8.5

8.9

8.3

7.2

9.9

9.1

11.9

10.5

13.9

15.0

SD

3

3

2

2

4

2

3

4

4

3

3

3

3

3

2

1

.7

.8

.6

.9

.5

.9

.3

.0

.3

.9

.8

.4

.0

.9

.3

.6

3rd measure(n= 28)

Rank

ó

2

1

3

7

4

5

11

10

8

12

9

14

13

15

16

Meanrankscore

7.1

4.8

3.9

5.5

7.5

6.6

7.0

9.1

8.5

7.9

9.9

8.3

11.0

10.3

13.7

15.0

SD

3.9

4.1

2.7

4.1

5.6

2.9

3.1

3.4

4.0

3.5

4.5

3.8

3.9

3.2

2.8

1.9

Combining Image-Based and More Traditional

u i N U t K b l A N D l N G M I X E D - M E T H O D S A R T

Overall, the ranking data suggests a pattern for categories:

Of the four concern categories, the concern category 'pupils' needs concerns'scores the highest. There is a reasonable distance to the score for the sec-ond highest category, 'instructional concerns.' The category 'self concerns'appears not to score highly. The fourth category, 'overall educational con-cerns', scores lowest.

These findings were tested for significance:

Using the Friedman test, we determined whether or not there were significantdifferences between the three measures (the fourth research question). TheX2 test gave a valué of 0.66, with a corresponding P valué of 0.72. This meansthat there were no significant differences between the results of the threemeasurements. The students' remarks also did not show a change over theyear. However, the students made considerably fewer remarks on the forms forthe second and third measurement.

Regarding the card sort data, Swennen et al. conclude:

The main conclusión based on the analysis of the data gathered with the cardsorting instrument is that there is no general overall change in the concerns ofthese students during their firstyear.... There are, however, indications that thestudents are becoming less idealistic and more realistic about teaching.

The next data-gathering method was qualitative:

We asked the students to make a drawing of themselves in relation to the schoolthey had been working in during their teaching practice period. A total of 64drawings were made: 34 at the beginning of the year, a week before the teach-ing practice period, and 30 at the end of the year, a week after the last week ofthe teaching practice period. Each student received paper, (coloured) pencilsand crayons. The students were free in their choice of drawing materials.

A comprehensive analysis design was then implemented:

Analysis of the drawings proceeded in two stages. The purpose of the firststage was to develop categories of concern based on the drawings. The firstauthor made a description of the main visual aspects.... On the basis of thisdescription the similarities and differences between the drawings were deter-mined The intention was to develop concern categories that emerged fromthe drawings.

The reliability of the concern categories was assessed in the second stage.. . . During a pilot, all three authors scored the concerns in the drawings of agroup of students, different from the ones being studied.... Finally, 28 draw-ings of the students involved in this study were chosen at random and scoredindependently by three rates with two questions to be answered: (1) is the

' «~» ' * M u K t 5 t A K CTI C-T i c i\v v. i

category of concern present in this drawing; (2) if it is, to what degree (inten-sity) is it present, on a scale from 1 (mínimum) to 4 (máximum)?

In their analysis of the drawing data, the researchers first reported the pres-ence of eight categories of concern across the 64 drawings:

1. Concerns about a cosy atmosphere in the classroom.2. Concerns about pupils.3. Concerns about maintaining discipline.4. Concerns about the opinión of the mentor.5. Concerns about pupils' learning.6. Concerns about matters outside the classroom.7. Concerns about themselves as teachers.8. Concerns about the choice of becoming a teacher.

While many of the concern categories were similar to those found in the cardsorting instrument, there were also a number of new categories that were onlyrevealed in the drawings:

Other of the concern categories that emerged from the drawings are different,like concerns about a cosy atmosphere in the classroom, concerns about them-selves as teachers and concerns about the choice of becoming a teacher.

Results were similar to those of the card sorting instrument:

In general, the results of the drawings, like those of the card sorting instru-ment, show little change in overall concerns, except for the concern about theopinión of the mentor.

Table 12.3 shows the changes that can be seen between the first and sec-ond drawings of the student teachers. One can read from Table 12.3 that con-cerns about pupils, the learning of pupils, a cosy atmosphere and the opiniónof the mentor are all prominent in the first drawings of student teachers, justbefore their first practice teaching period. The second batch still shows con-cerns about pupils, the learning of pupils and a cosy atmosphere, but hardlyany concerns about the opinión of the mentor. It is noteworthy that the overallfrequency of the concerns in the drawings diminishes.

The final data-gathering strategy involved the use of interviews:

From the group of 37 students we selected six for semi-structured interviews.Because we wanted to interview students who had ranked the cards in accor-dance with the general results and students who had ranked the cards differ-ently, we wanted to interview a mínimum of three students from each group—The interviews were meant to illustrate the outcomes of the analyses of the cardsorting instrument and the drawings.

The following questions were used for the interviews:

TM I V E b - M E I H O D S A R T

I

Tdble 12.3 Percentages of presence of concern categories ¡n the selected 28drawings and mean scores of two raters at times 1 and 2

Measure 1

RaterCategory of concerns %

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

ó.

7.

Pupils' learning

Pupils

A cosy atmosphere

Opinión of mentor

Themselves as teachers

Discipline

The choice to become ateacher

71

57

50

43

29

14

7

1 Rater 2

Mean %

1

2

1

1

2

.5

.0

.9

.8

.3a

a

79

57

64

29

50

7

7

Measure 2

Rater 1

Mean %

1.6

1

1

2

2

.9

.9

.8

.3a

a

36

57

36

7

50

0

14

Mean

1.4

1.4

1.2

1.0

1.9a

a

Rater 2

%

43

50

43

7

43

0

14

Mean

1.5

1.3

1.5

1.0

1.8

a

8. Matters outside the classroom O O 14 14

° This valué could not be calculated because of too few scores.

Table 4 ¡n the article "Studying Student Teachers' Concerns, Combining Image-Based andMore Traditional Research Techniques" in Appendix I

On the ranking of the cards: (1) what strikes you about how you ranked thecards the first time; (2) what strikes you about how you ranked the cards thelast time; (3) how do you explain the similarities and differences between thefirst and last ranking?

On the drawings of the students: (1) what strikes you about your first draw-ing; (2) what strikes you about your last drawing; (3) how do you explain thesimilarities and differences between the first and last drawing?

Interview data is not presented per se, but is incorporated to clarify specific 'results'issues with the card sorting instrument and the drawings.

In discussing their results, the researchers spent some time in describing thesimilarities and differences in using the more quantitative card sort method and themore qualitative drawing analysis method. First of all, they found general agree-ment in the findings from each method. However, the drawings were shown to giveaccess to some concerns better than the card sort method:

Although there is general agreement about the outcomes of the analysis ofthe card sorting instrument and the drawings, there are some concerns thatemerge more clearly from the drawings than the cards. This is particularlytrue of 'a cosy atmosphere in the classroom'. The students in the interviewsalso emphasized this issue. The students considered a good atmosphere a pre-condition for their own functioning and for pupil learning.

The use of drawings was also shown to have more general benefits as well:

Our results show that we found a fruitful entrance by taking drawings as abasic for measuring concerns. The validity of the drawings seems to ussomewhat greater than the prefabricated card Ítems derived from a long listof concerns Drawings help clarify factors that in other research receiveless attention, especially the less conscious and less rational aspects of teacherdevelopment.

The researchers also talked about extending the method into more personal-istic and narrative directions:

In our study we limited ourselves to analyses on the group level. Another Uneof research would be to use the card sorting instrument and the drawings asthe basis for a more person-centred research approach, from a biographicalperspective.

The researchers were also careful to acknowledge drawbacks and weaknesseswith the use of drawings as a data-gathering tool:

Although drawings elicit responses that differ from those of more traditional,verbal research techniques, the use of drawing as a research method is notwithout problems. One of the problems is the ability of people to make draw-ings thatreflect whatthey wantto express One of the students intervieweddrew a picture that was rather sober and said she did so because of her limitedartistic skill. Nevertheless, most of the pictures are strong and imaginativeand reflect the feelings of the students in various ways, from drawings in blackand white to express anxiety to bright colours to express love for children.

In the end, Swennen et al. champion their blend of qualitative and quantitativeassessment tools as a way to get at a variety of important issues in teacher education:

Finally, we think we have succeeded in developing instruments which can alsobe used by teacher educators with the aim of developing more understandingof their student teachers' concerns. As such, these instruments may contrib-ute to the development of what Korthagen and Kessels (1999) cali 'realisticteacher education', i.e., teacher education that builds on student teachers'actual concerns.

Our Emerging Research Literacy

At the current time, there seems to be no clear consensus on the valué of mixed-methods designs. While a sizable number of educational researchers embrace theidea of bringing together all forms of empirical research under a single comnionrubric, there remain enough dissident voices to ensure that this topic will be debatedfor some time to come.

In the meantime, what should a research-literate critic do? For now, the beststrategy appears to be this—approach mixed-methods articles as you would anyother articles. You should be able to find a research question and an argument. The

w i M u» L ¡\ i M i N ü I N G M I X E D - M b I n O D S A R

methods and analyses should lead to clear results and findings. Those flndingsshould be interpreted with skill and care by their researchers. So long as you holdsteady to the basic principies of research literacy, at least for now, mixed-methodsarticles should present you with no real problems.

Practíce Makes Perfect

It ¡s now time to practice some of the ¡nsights and sldlls you have explored ¡n thischapter:

• First of all, can you find examples of mixed-methods articles? See if you canfind at least two such articles.

• Can you categorize these articles as either primarily qualitative or primarilyquantitative? Make a case for your decisions.

• Using one training quantitative arricie and one training qualitative arricie, canyou redesign each article as a mixed-methods arricie? Share your results withyour classmates.