I am hoping to use mixed methods in my thesis but am finding resistance to this from my supervisors. Has anyone else experienced this and if so do you have any tips on how to ''Sell'' it to them? Also I have been trawling for postgraduate courses in mixed methods in the UK..no luck but have found some in the States...have I missed something? Could anyone advise who offers postgraduate courses...or any course for that matter....

Hi Saw,

Have you written a piece about how these methods will better answer your reseach question than other methods? You could write a bit about the history of mixed methods to back up your choice...
There is a sesion on Mixed Methods in the qual short course at Bristol (dept. Social Medicine), there's also a 1 day conference in Swansea on Dec 5th http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/Documents/580/QUIC_Conference_Flyer.pdf

What is it the main concern on the part of your supervisors? As pup mentioned a short piece on the history may help to back up your reasons for using mixed method research If you supervisors have expertise in a number of methods this is one thing but mixed method design is another as I am just reading about at the moment!
If time is one of their concerns you could help to assure them by giving weight to one method. Creswell's mixed method 2007 text book edition is very good for describing the different designs.

Thanks pup...I obviously did miss something..that is great advice on writing a comparison paper...have jsut found some decent justification in Sternberg...also..thanks for the information on Mixed Method courses...am acting on that now.

Bulbs...thanks....I think the resistance is due to a preference for quantitative as being the only real measurement and that the rest is purely descriptive...I think as pup has pointed out that it may be due to not knowing enough about mixed method...perhaps thinking that mixed method is multi method...and that it will be very time consuming...I am finding Creswell and Clark (2007) very informative....thanks for your advice..this is going to be an interesting three years!

Hi, i'm doing a mixed methods research PhD and some opposition appears to be due to arguments around conflicting epistemologies with many arguing, as you seem to indicate, that quantitative research views an objective reality comprised of facts and 'truth' for which there aregeneralisable laws and constructivism which is usually associated with qualitative methods and views multiple realities.

What was the Steinberg book?

Snicholls....Sternberg's Creativity Handbook...so relevant to creativity research as proposes that imaginative and non traditional methodology should be encouraged due to the complexities involved in creativity research...My research proposal has now been accepted with a tentative acceptance of Mixed Method....But there has been a proviso on the model to be used!...I'm happy...! What are you researching and are you happy with Mixed Methods? Any overwhelming problems to date?

I found a good paper outlining the costs and benefits of using mixed methods. I liked the paper because it gives a good critique of mixed method in general - Mixed method a discussion paper by Julia Brannen. Knowing the main criticisms is half the battle.

Hi Bulbs...yes...I have read that paper too...very helpful..especially as is an English paper. How are you finding using Mixed Method?...would you do it again?

Hi SAW, I am just about to put in my proposal so I have to wait and see if I will get accepted. My main worry is the time it will take to use mixed methods. I will need to learn alot of new methods and stats! But, I hope I can do it. I looked up the book you recommended Sternberg, I am going to get a copy, looks very interesting. Well done on getting your proposal accepted, hope I can say the same in a few weeks time.

Good luck...hope it all goes well for you!

Hi SAW,

I'm investigating parental consent to newborn screening using an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach. I'm using interviews in the first phase with an as yet unspecified quantitative second stage (probably questionnaire), but using multi-level statistical analysis. Generally the interviews will be exploring parental experiences, with the second stage looking at general trends and seeing if these are at the individual or hospital level (if any).

Oh, and forgot to say that thus far both my supervisors have accepted the method (ones a sociologist, the other a mathematician). I agree that the biggest issue (apart from the NHS ethics approval process) will be time related in regard to doing what is effectively 2 studies.

Thanks for the message. Your research sounds very interesting. How many research phases are your supervisors expecting? I have been advised to have at least four...maybe five.Further, how soon after registration are you expected to start writing up for publishing? I have been advised within the first six to eight months! Is this usual??? Also, what discipline is your PhD in? Have you noticed that there is a Mixed Methods Symposium scheduled at the BPS Annual Conference in Ireland this year?

My supervisors are only expecting 2 phases (as am I): Interviews followed by a quantitative stage (probably a questionnaire of some sort) which will be used to do some regression or multi-level modelling. I suppose if you consider the literature review as historical research then this might be an extra phase - I certainly don't think i'll be doing 4 or 5 phases. What ideas have you or your supervisors suggested for the phases??

With regard to writing up we haven't had any set times suggested. I'm a 1st year and we have been advised to start writing now, but this isn't necessarily for publishing (PhD or papers). I am doing shorter papers on topics of interest and relevance and which I then discuss with my supervisor. They will probably fit in the PhD somewhere in some form. I will have to do some formal writing for the upgrade panel at the end of the year though.

My PhD is in Applied Social Statistics, and thanks for the heads up on the conference i'll have a look at it.