Editorial: Best Practice Approaches for Mixed Methods Research in Psychological Science.

Abstract

Mixed methods research burst onto the scene around the beginning of the second millennium. After decades of intense dispute between those who preferred the qualitative perspective and their quantitative counterparts—with both sides having grown deeply entrenched in their respective views—a complementary approach promising the possibility of integration had finally been proposed. By that time, however, the vast majority of researchers had committed to one stance or the other; very few of us argued that the two approaches could be complementary. Since then, the number of publications, scientific meetings and other activities devoted to the mixed methods approach has increased exponentially throughout the world. For us, there are two definitions specially relevant. Teddie and Tashakkori (2010) defined mixed methods research as “research design using qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques in either parallel or sequential phases” (p. 11). And Johnson et al. (2007) say that “Mixed methods research is the type of research in which a researcher or team of researchers combines elements of qualitative and quantitative research approaches (e.g., use of qualitative and quantitative viewpoints, data collection, analysis, inference techniques) for the broad purposes of breadth and depth of understanding and corroboration” (p. 123). Moreover, Johnson et al. (2007) have listed and analyzed 19 definitions of mixed methods, and the authors that have worked on this topic as a part of a big community. The expansion of mixed methods in the scientific community has been expanding rapidly. At a substantive level, we are pleased to see that a growing number of fields are generating mixed methods research, and we are eager to assist in promoting this trend. However, the field has experienced some “growing pains”: a certain degree of heterogeneity in terms of approaches, differences of opinion regarding certain conceptualizations (for example, mixed methods vs. multi-methods), numerous design taxonomies, multiple ways of integrating qualitative and quantitative elements, and various positions on how best to overcome the enduring lack of symmetry between qualitative and quantitative aspects. The methodological and substantive spectrum is vast and broad, possibly because the mixed methods approach has become “obligatory” for much research, not only in psychology but in practically all branches of the social sciences. Our proposal for delineating between mixed methods and multimethods has been presented in a previous work (Anguera et al., 2018). We believe that a study will be multimethod when, driven by a common overall research goal, it uses a series of complementary methodologies, chosen according to a given criterion. According to our proposal, whether it has a predominantly qualitative or quantitative nature has no bearing on its consideration as a multimethod study. By contrast, the essence of mixed methods studies is that they contain qualitative and quantitative components that must be integrated to ensure the mixing of the information they carry. Combining and integrating quantitative and qualitative data in the same study, however, poses numerous challenges, and attempts have been made in recent years to untangle this Gordian knot, generating and developing strategies for successfully integrating qualitative and quantitative data. The aim of this Research Topic is to present a selection of studies whose methodological approaches include, as a central element, aspects related to the Gordian knot of mixed methods, that also incorporate secondary—but no less important—elements such as dataset transformation, analytical techniques and data integration, as well as studies in which systematic observation is used as a mixed method in itself. The Research Topic has promoted a transparent presentation of the mixed approach used to develop the conceptual, methodological or application-related contribution of each article. This transparency will enable other researchers to critically appraise and replicate the methods used. The 32 articles that make up the Research Topic Best Practice Approaches for Mixed Methods Research in Psychological Science, with contribution from 121 authors, are organized from a substantive point of view in different criteria, although each of the published articles could have been “classified” from several points of view.