Academic literature on the topic 'Concurrent mixed methods design'

Forty-nine infants and toddlers were killed and 93 others were injured in the ABC Day Care Center fire disaster in Hermosillo, Mexico. This study describes the experiences of ten mental health professionals who researched the community-scale grief and provided clinical services to the parents and caregivers of the affected children. A concurrent triangulation mixed-methods approach was used to quantitatively measure and qualitatively understand the secondary traumatic stress (STS) of the responding professionals. Results indicated that experiences of STS decreased with time and debriefing, however, the responding professionals who were more directly connected to the trauma and those who worked with parents who lost their children displayed an enduring impact of STS. Coping strategies and gender expectations are considered in a discussion of debriefing in the specific cultural context of Northwestern Mexico.

Background/Context Mixed methods research conveys multiple advantages to the study of complex phenomena and large organizations or systems. The benefits are derived from drawing on the strengths of qualitative methods to answer questions about how and why a phenomenon occurs and those of quantitative methods to examine how often a phenomenon occurs and establish generalizable, empirical associations between variables and outcomes. Though the literature offers many strategies, designing mixed methods research can be challenging in large scale projects when trying to balance reliability, validity, and generalizability. By supporting the findings with multiple forms of evidence mixed methods designs lend greater validity than mono-method ones. However to draw on the comparative advantages of these two paradigms, researchers must grapple with the challenges of working with more than one method. Focus of Study This paper discusses the benefits and challenges of collecting and interpreting mixed methods data in a large scale research and development project. Drawing on existing frameworks, we refect on our strategies of mixed methods design, data collection, and analysis. We discuss the quandaries faced by researchers when discrepant findings emerge. Research Design The data come from a large, mixed methods case study focused on the practices that explain why some high schools in large urban districts are particularly effective at serving low income students, minority students, and English language learners. Undertaken in several phases, the work included sequential and concurrent designs. Incorporating a sequential explanatory design element, we first used quantitative data to identify schools in the district that were more and less effective at improving student achievement in English/language arts, mathematics, and science. We then used a combination of interviews, focus groups, surveys, classroom observations, and district administrative data—in a concurrent design—to try to understand what differentiated between the most and least effective schools in the district. Conclusions Based on our analyses, we provide examples of when mixed methods data converge, when they diverge but are complementary, and when they diverge and introduce a methodological quandary for researchers who must confront seemingly discrepant findings. In so doing, we discuss the tradeoffs encountered between the study design and the implications as we confronted them during analysis and suggest ways to balance the methodological demands of complex research studies. Seemingly discrepant findings, while challenging to reconcile, when considered for their potential complementarity, actually lead to a more complete understanding of the phenomena under study.

The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of mixed research techniques in empirical studies published in gifted education journals. During Phase 1, empirical full-text databases and relevant electronic bibliographic databases related to gifted education were searched during a time span of 10 to 18 years, resulting in the identification of 32 mixed research studies. During Phase 2, frequency data were compiled detailing the types of methods (quantitative, qualitative, mixed) implemented in empirical studies published in three leading gifted education research journals covering the time span of 5 years. A sequential mixed analysis was conducted on Phase 2 data, and results indicated that authors of empirical research articles utilized primarily quantitative methods. Among the 19 studies identified as mixed research, 5 utilized a mixed design that was categorized as a partially mixed, concurrent, dominant status design.

The number of international students studying in the Republic of Korea has increased tremendously over the last 20 years, marking a change in regional student mobility trends. While most international degree students tend to originate in countries in Asia, signifying regionalization versus internationalization, exchange students are diverse by nationality/ region. This concurrent nested mixed-methods study sought to investigate the pull factors of a Korean university among exchange students. 564 students completed an electronic questionnaire and through on campus interviews. Quantitative results suggested that exchange students found characteristics about Korea attractive (e.g., K-pop) as well as wanting international and/or cross-cultural experiences, to be the most appealing. 10 students participated in interviews, and findings showed that students became interested in Korea by exposure to popular media, as well as wanting a diverse, international study environment. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of university inbound program promotion/marketing and program design/development for short-term mobility, along with areas for future research.