Question

to what extent is mixed methods research simply taking a quantitative design and a qualitative design and putting them together? explain the types of research questions served by methods research. explain one strength and one limitation of mixed methods research. Finally, provide a rationale for or against the utility of mixed methods research in your discipline

Answer 1

Mixed methods combine qualitative and quantitative methods to bridge their differences in the service of addressing a research question. this mixed method allows to compensate the weakness of using only one method of research design and capitalize on the strengths of using either qualitative or quantitative nmethods.mixed method have both qualitative and quantitative research questions (or hypotheses) which may be called as hybrid or integrated question. The researcher writes the independent variable(s) first, followed by the dependent variable. Other method is to begin with descriptive questions followed by the inferential questions that relate variables or compare groups. When quantitative methods predict, measure, and correlate and qualitative methods explore and gain insight, mixed methods is a combination of two which aims to explore phenomena, identify relationships and determine correlations. On the other hand the weakness of mixed method is that it is a challenge because of conflicting assumptions in the two opposing methods such as qualitative method perceives human behavior as dynamic and personal, and quantitative method explain it as regular and predictable. One relies on meaning while the other emphasizes behavior. So there could be an attempt to unnatural mixing of methods.inspite of all these mixed methods offers researchers a perspective that encompasses the facts and figures of illness along with the human experiences of that illness