Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research

Combining the latest thinking about mixed methods research designs with practical, step-by-step guidance, the Second Edition of Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research now covers six major mixed methods designs. Authors John W. Creswell and Vicki L. Plano Clark walk readers through the entire research process, from formulating questions to designing, collecting data, and interpreting results and include updated examples from published mixed methods studies drawn from the social, behavioral, health, and education disciplines.

New to This Edition:

• Two new mixed methods designs―transformative and multiphase―are now covered.

• New flowcharts detail the steps involved in conducting each of the six major mixed methods designs.

• More detailed coverage of data collection decisions for each of the six major designs.

• New topic coverage

- The use of joint displays

- Emerging discussion about validity

- Newest thinking about the use of software in the process of mixed methods analysis

• An example of a mixed method dissertation outline is now included in the set of guidelines for reporting mixed methods research in a proposal, dissertation, or journal article.

• New and revised activities and exercises conclude each chapter.

This text is intended for use in Intermediate/Advanced Research Methods, Mixed Methods, Research Design, and Social Research Methods courses across the social sciences.

John W. Creswell, PhD, is a professor of family medicine and senior research scientist at the Michigan Mixed Methods Program at the University of Michigan. He has authored numerous articles and 30 books on mixed methods research, qualitative research, and research design. While at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he held the Clifton Endowed Professor Chair, served as Director of the Mixed Methods Research Office, founded SAGE’s Journal of Mixed Methods Research, and was an adjunct professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan and a consultant to the Veterans Administration health services research center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was a Senior Fulbright Scholar to South Africa in 2008 and to Thailand in 2012. In 2011, he co-led a National Institute of Health working group on the “best practices of mixed methods research in the health sciences,” and in 2014 served as a visiting professor at Harvard’s School of Public Health. In 2014, he was the founding President of the Mixed Methods International Research Association. In 2015, he joined the staff of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan to Co-Direct the Michigan Mixed Methods Program. In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. In 2017, he co-authored the American Psychological Association “standards” on qualitative and mixed methods research. In 2018 his book on “Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design” (with Cheryl Poth) won the Textbook and Academic Author’s 2018 McGuffey Longevity Award in the United States. He currently makes his home in Ashiya, Japan and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Vicki L. Plano Clark, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Quantitative and Mixed Methods Research Methodologies area of the University of Cincinnati’s School of Education.  Her methodological scholarship aims to delineate useful designs for conducting mixed methods research, examine procedural issues associated with achieving meaningful integration within these designs, and consider larger questions about the personal, interpersonal, and social contexts for the adoption and use of mixed methods.  She recently coauthored the book Mixed Methods Research: A Guide to the Field (2016; SAGE) with Nataliya V. Ivankova and has coauthored several books with John W. Creswell, including The Mixed Methods Reader (2008; SAGE) and Understanding Research: A Consumer’s Guide (2010, 2015; Pearson Education).  She is a founding coeditor of the Mixed Methods Research Series (SAGE Publishing).  She also currently serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Mixed Methods Research (JMMR) and Program Chair for the Mixed Methods Research Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association.  In 2011, she co-led the development of Best Practices for Mixed Methods in the Health Sciences for the National Institutes of Health Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. Her teaching focuses on foundations of research methodologies and mixed methods research, including a two-semester mixed methods sequence and special topics courses.  She also engages in research and evaluation projects on a wide array of topics such as the management of cancer pain, researchers’ development of visual displays, the effectiveness of school reform initiatives, the quality of communication between attorneys and their clients, and the development of innovative curricular materials for undergraduate physics.