Issues and dilemmas in teaching research methods courses in social and behavioural sciences: US perspective

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to initiate a dialogue among the 'first generation' of those who teach mixed methods research courses in the social and behavioural sciences. It is argued that in the past three decades, research methodology, and the teaching of research, has faced strong pressures toward polarizing into a qualitative and quantitative dichotomy. Research courses are either qualitative or quantitative, and graduate students are often encouraged to choose a 'track' early on in their education. Following the structure of most introductory research methods textbooks, when both approaches (qualitative and quantitative) are taught in a research course, they are discussed separately, with little effort to link them together. On the other hand, strong pressures are currently being faced from applied researchers in the field to train 'research experts' who are able to incorporate both the qualitative and quantitative methods and approaches in their projects. It is argued that those who teach research methodology in the social and behavioural sciences have a responsibility to prepare their students for a professional world that is increasingly using mixed methods. Issues related to the teaching of mixed methods in each of five phases of a typical research project are presented. A sample course with a mixed methods approach is also presented in this article.