Complexity of quantitative analyses used in mixed research articles published in a flagship mathematics education journal

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the trend of quantitative analyses used within mathematics education research articles classified as representing mixed research. Specifically, the purpose was to examine the complexity of quantitative analyses, within mixed research approaches, utilized in a flagship mathematics education publication over the past 5 years and to categorize the quantitative analyses used, according to the context of the studies. This study sought to answer the following research questions: (a) To what extent are different levels of quantitative analyses used within mixed research articles in the mathematics education domain? (b) How has the complexity of these quantitative analyses changed over the past 5 years? and (c) What contextual categories emerge for usage of the various quantitative analyses within mathematics education? This study examined 71 journal articles published in Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, which represented all empirical research articles published in the journal between 2006 and 2010. Studies representing mixed methods research were extracted using a coding scheme for classifying research articles. Chi-square tests, which were used to compare the differences among the categories of quantitative analyses, revealed differences. The method of constant comparison also was used to determine any categories of contextual situations, resulting in specific quantitative analyses used. Implications of the findings are discussed.