Journal of Mixed Methods Studies

Advancing Mixed Methods Research in JOMES Issue 10

Tony Onwuegbuzie — 2024-10-30

Abstract

In this 10 issue, JOMES proudly presents,

A blend of insights, transformative and immense.

With themes of integration and change in view,

These articles inspire both the old and the new.

In Article 1, a poetic call takes flight,

Abstracts as verse, both rigorous and light.

Onwuegbuzie urges a scholarly turn,

Where emotion and intellect together burn.

The second article casts an educational lens,

Twenty years of trends it comprehends.

Meng and Wang map mixed methods’ growth,

Through bibliometric tools, they offer both.

In Article 3, resilience takes the stage,

For Angolan farmers facing climate's rage.

Vinevala’s team blends qualitative might,

With surveys to craft solutions in sight.

The fourth article dives into critical thought,

Morrison applies theories that Habermas brought.

From ideology critique to social justice frames,

Transformative aims are the research’s claims.

In Article 5, quantitizing expands its role,

Onwuegbuzie explores how to measure the whole.

Item response theory gives mixed methods new grace,

Bringing precision to themes with a measured embrace.

The sixth article gives voice to the young,

Kara, Çetin, and their team show where sustainability’s sung.

From zero-waste lessons in children’s domain,

To community impact, their insights sustain.

Together these works weave a theme profound,

Integration and transformation resound.

With rigor and creativity interlaced,

JOMES redefines how challenges are faced.

Abstracts as Poetry in Journal Articles: A Call for a New Paradigm in Scholarly Communication

Tony Onwuegbuzie — 2024-10-30

Abstract

In scholarly realms, wherein prose prevails,
A new voice rises, as poetry sails.
The abstract once rigid, confined by form,
Now dances with rhythm, defying the norm.

This article calls for a shift in the frame,

Wherein abstract and verse can become the same.

For when ideas transcend simple prose,

Poetry or metapoetry bestows.

Through verse, we distill complex thought,
Making ideas more easily caught.
For readers who yearn for depth and grace,
Poetic abstracts offer a welcoming space.

A reflection on the writing’s role,
In capturing research, both heart and soul.
Abstracts as poems, clear yet profound,
Engage the intellect and emotions unbound.

So let this metapoem serve as a sign,
That scholarly work and art can align.
For abstracts in poetry bridge the divide,
Between logic’s structure and feeling’s tide.

At the core of this call lies a philosophical aim,

Critical dialectical pluralism guiding the frame.

Embracing all methods, diverse voices blend,

Poetic abstracts as a means to transcend.

So I urge the style guides that set the academic stage,

To welcome poetic abstracts on journal articles’ first page.

Not just to allow, but also to give them the space,

For creativity both to enrich and to grace.

In rhyme and rhythm, knowledge can share,

Research with beauty, and scholars who care.

Let both prose and poetry take their place,

Elevating scholarship with thoughtful embrace.

Research on Mixed Methods in Education: A Bibliometric Analysis of Development Dynamics (2003 - 2023)

Zhanxin Meng — 2024-10-30

Over the past years, education has consistently ranked among the fields with the highest utilization of mixed methods research. However, very few research have reviewed and provided visual maps of mixed methods research in education, illustrating systematically the published papers’ development dynamics. Hence, this paper defined WoS category as “Education Educational Research”, filtering and downloading 793 published English articles from 2003 to 2023 with “mixed method(s)” or “mixed methodology” in the title from two sub-databases within the Web of Science Core Collection, SSCI (Social Sciences Citation Index) and A&HCI (Arts & Humanities Citation Index). Through bibliometric analysis using the R programming language, as a quantitative study, this paper mainly focused on the scientific production, collaborative relationship, research topics and future trends of mixed methods research in education over the past twenty years. It was found that the research productivity in the field have been increasing during the inclusive years. Journals and universities were respectively the dominant contributors in sources and affiliations. The USA, UK, China, and Australia can be considered strong countries of MMR in education. Moreover, the most frequent words, the trending topics, conceptual structure and future directions are also discussed here.

An exploratory sequential mixed methods design to evaluate stakeholders’ perspective in promoting Angola small-scale farmers’ resilience to climate change.

José Vinevala — 2024-10-30

The exploratory sequential design is useful for studies that call for in-depth knowledge of the research problem and where data on the phenomenon is unavailable. This paper used an exploratory sequential design to evaluate stakeholders' roles and perceptions in improving Angolan smallholder farmers' resilience to climate change. This approach consists of three phases. The first phase comprised in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 20 smallholder farmers and 4 experts. Five themes emerged from the qualitative data. These themes resulted in the development of a new research instrument in phase two, the Agriculture Stakeholder Questionnaire (ASQ). In the third phase, the Agriculture Stakeholder Questionnaire surveyed 181 stakeholders. The results aim to generate practical socio-economic solutions for Angola’s farming communities. The instrument could also potentially be applied to similar farming communities in sub-Saharan Africa.

Habermas, Honneth, Critical Theory, and Ideology Critique for Transformative Mixed Methods Research

Keith Morrison — 2024-10-30

This article sets a theoretical foundation to transformative mixed methods research that is rooted in the critical theory of Habermas and Honneth. This addresses Habermas’s knowledge-constitutive interests and communicative action for redressing societal pathologies, and Honneth’s work on (mis)recognition, (dis)respect, and social justice. In doing so, the article argues for broadening the scope and embrace of mixed methods research, to go beyond being empirical research only or largely, and to include theorisation, critical theoretical discourse and its analysis, and ideology critique, as legitimate methods for (transformative) mixed methods research. The article makes a case for these methods as constituting important research methods in themselves in the portfolio of mixed methods research, moving the boundaries of mixed methods research beyond solely empirical studies, and providing emancipatory lenses and consciousness-raising in recognising that transformation takes many forms.

Just When You Thought that Quantitizing Merely Involved Counting: A Renewed Call for Expanding the Practice of Quantitizing in Mixed Methods Research With a Focus on Measurement-Based Quantitizing

Tony Onwuegbuzie — 2024-10-30

In this article, I explore the concept of quantitizing in mixed methods research, categorizing it into four types: descriptive-based quantitizing (i.e., converting qualitative data into quantitative summaries; e.g., frequencies), inferential-based quantitizing (i.e., using statistical methods to draw inferences from quantitized data), exploratory-based quantitizing (i.e., identifying patterns/relationships within quantitized data, often leading to further quantitative analysis), and measurement-based quantitizing (i.e., applying psychometric models to quantitized data to assess and to measure latent traits). Among these, measurement-based quantitizing is the least prevalent. Therefore, I expand the concept of measurement-based quantitizing by demonstrating how modern test theory (MTT) approaches (e.g., Rasch analysis and item response theory [IRT] models) can be applied effectively to quantitized themes or finer data units like categories, codes, and sub-codes. Rasch analysis and foundational IRT models (1-parameter IRT, 2-parameter IRT, 3-parameter IRT) add significant value to descriptive-based quantitizing by providing deeper insights into theme difficulty and discrimination. Other IRT models (e.g., 4-parameter IRT, 5-parameter IRT, Bayesian IRT) offer further refinement. Also, I highlight the value of these models in inferential-based quantitizing, particularly via differential item functioning analysis. When applying IRT to quantitized themes, tools such as the test information function, item characteristic curves, and item fit analysis are essential for refining measurements. I underscore the importance of optimizing theme quantity and sample size, recommending minimum guidelines for reliable IRT analysis of quantitized themes. In conclusion, I call for the broader adoption of measurement-based quantitizing, integrating MTT approaches to enhance the rigor, precision, and interpretative power of mixed methods research.

Little Voices, Big Impact: Exploring Primary School Children’s Perceptions of Zero Waste

Tony Onwuegbuzie — 2024-10-30

This fully integrated arts-based mixed methods case study investigated the effectiveness of the Zero Waste Project implemented in a fourth-grade classroom of the lead author at Selçuklu Belediyesi Primary School in Konya, Turkey, focusing on students’ attitudes and behaviors towards sustainability. The study employs a combination of semi-structured interviews, nonverbal communication analysis, analysis of demographic data, and visual content analysis of 107 photographs taken during the project. Four meta-themes emerged from the interviews: Environmental Awareness, Proposed Solutions and Initiatives, Personal Responsibility and Emotional Connection, and Education and Community Involvement. Complementarily, the visual content analysis identified two meta-themes: Sustainability Education and Active Participation. An incidence-based, inter-respondence matrix revealed that Environmental Awareness was the most prevalent meta-theme, with Pollution and Its Impact being the most recognized theme. Conversely, Proposed Solutions and Initiatives emerged as the least prevalent meta-theme, with Role Modeling and Influence as the least recognized theme. Correspondence analyses highlighted significant associations between students’ demographic characteristics and their engagement with specific meta-themes and themes. The study underscores the importance of integrating environmental education into the curriculum through creative expression and community-based activities, particularly within the Turkish, in general, and Konya context, in particular, wherein communal responsibility is a deeply rooted cultural value. The findings also suggest that addressing both the emotional and cognitive aspects of environmental education can enhance students’ engagement with sustainability issues. The article concludes with recommendations for future research to explore the long-term impacts of such programs and the role of technological innovations and nonverbal communication in environmental education.