School Psychologists’ Use of Mixed Methods Research in the Field: A Call for More Mixed Methods Research and Mixed Methodological Articles

Abstract

School psychologists utilize multiple types of data in their everyday work. Adopting a mixed methods way of thinking can assist school psychologists in incorporating multiple types of data into their decision making. The purpose of this mixed methods case study is to update our understanding of mixed methods research publication trends in the Journal of School Psychology, Psychology in the Schools, School Psychology, and School Psychology Review and to extend our understanding of patterns related to published mixed methods research studies in these journals. Representing the inclusion criterion, the authors searched for articles published in these school psychology journals wherein the author(s) explicitly declared their works as representing mixed methods research—referred to as mixed methodsdeclared articles. Only 35 mixed methods-declared articles were found in the four top school psychology journals over a 17-year period (i.e., 2006 to August 18, 2022)—representing approximately two articles per year, on average. This is not only surprising but disturbing, bearing in mind the efficacy and effectiveness of mixed methods research for investigating wicked problems.