Assignment:
Respond to the following discussion:
Mixed method research is not simply taking qualitative and quantitative research methods and mixing together is more of a blend of each method is best for the researcher in which is best for the research done. Creswell speaks of three types of mixed methods designed, convergent parallel mixed method, exploratory sequential mixed method and explanatory sequence mixed method as being the three most used (Creswell, 2009). When using the mixed method it is not simply “a half and half” of quantitative and qualitative, but a blending of each to match the research and information obtained.
During convergent parallel is a matter of taking both qualitative and quantitative information comparing them or relating them to each other and then interpreting the results. In explanatory mixed method is taking the quantitative information followed up with qualitative information and then doing interpretation and in exploratory sequential mixed method is taking qualitative information and building to quantitative and then doing interpretation of the information (Creswell, 2009).
As for the challenges of using mixed methods strategies in research, there may be more personal biases that can be inputted into the research design because if the researchers leaned toward one particular method or the other they can inadvertently use bias on that input of information. Also researcher stand a chance of having too much information and having mixed results that do not work with their hypothesis. It is also possible that the quantitative and qualitative research information will counteract each other and give miss information as well.
References:
Creswell, J. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.