Best Practices for Mixed Methods Research
In November 2010, The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) commissioned a leadership team to develop a resource that would provide guidance to NIH investigators on how to rigorously develop and evaluate mixed methods research applications. Many definitions of mixed methods are available in the literature (e.g., see Johnson, Onwuegbuzie, & Turner, 2007). For purposes of this guidance, mixed methods research is defined as a research approach or methodology: * focusing on research questions that call for real-life contextual understandings, multi-level perspectives, and * cultural influences; * employing rigorous quantitative research assessing magnitude and frequency of constructs and rigorous * qualitative research exploring the meaning and understanding of constructs; * utilizing multiple methods (e.g., intervention trials and in-depth interviews); * intentionally integrating or combining these methods to draw on the strengths of each; *and* * framing the investigation within philosophical and theoretical positions
Best Practices for Mixed Methods Research in the Health Sciences (nih.gov)