Product Description

"The authors provided state-of-the-art information about mixed methods approaches to research. The book significantly expands Creswell's previous editions of mixed methods approaches to research by including four complete current studies that exemplify distinctive research using mixed methods...What becomes apparent throughout the book is the authors' interest in providing researchers with sufficient information about how to match their research problem to an appropriate design...I also highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to further their understanding of mixed methods research and acquire an in-depth analysis of the methodology." 

                                                                -Patricia Montiel-Overall, The University of Arizona
 
Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research provides researchers across the social, behavioral, and health sciences with a comprehensive introduction to mixed methods research. Authors John W. Creswell and Vicki L. Plano Clark combine the latest thinking about mixed methods research designs with practical, step-by-step guidelines for the decisions that researchers face when designing and conducting a mixed methods research study.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1665853 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 296 pages

Review
"This textbook, designed for graduate students and researchers, presents a clear and comprehensive guidebook for designing and conducting mixed methods research. One of the greatest strengths of this book for students and researchers is the inclusion of four complete published research studies in the appendixes. This is an excellent textbook for anyone interested in understanding mixed methods research. Although the target audience is graduate students, I believe that the text would be accessible and interesting to advanced undergraduates." -- Karl N. Kelley Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books 20070412 "The authors provided state-of-the-art information about mixed methods approaches to research. The book significantly expands Creswell's previous editions of mixed methods approaches to research by including four complete current studies that exemplify distinctive research using mixed methods...What becomes apparent throughout the book is the authors' interest in providing researchers with sufficient information about how to match their research problem to an appropriate design...I also highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to further their understanding of mixed methods research and acquire an in-depth analysis of the methodology." -Patricia Montiel-Overall, The University of Arizona -- Patricia Montiel-Overall Library & Information Science Research 29 (2007) 432-443 20071207

Review
"This textbook, designed for graduate students and researchers, presents a clear and comprehensive guidebook for designing and conducting mixed methods research. One of the greatest strengths of this book for students and researchers is the inclusion of four complete published research studies in the appendixes. This is an excellent textbook for anyone interested in understanding mixed methods research. Although the target audience is graduate students, I believe that the text would be accessible and interesting to advanced undergraduates." (Karl N. Kelley Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books )

"The authors provided state-of-the-art information about mixed methods approaches to research.  The book significantly expands Creswell's previous editions of mixed methods approaches to research by including four complete current studies that exemplify distinctive  research using mixed methods...What becomes apparent throughout the book is the authors' interest in providing researchers with sufficient information about how to match their research problem to an appropriate design...I also highly recommend  this book to anyone seeking to further their understanding of mixed methods research and acquire an in-depth analysis of the methodology."  -Patricia Montiel-Overall, The University of Arizona (Patricia Montiel-Overall Library & Information Science Research 29 (2007) 432-443 )

About the Author
Vicki L. Plano Clark, Ph.D., is a research assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, co-director of the Office of Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research, and managing editor of the new Journal of Mixed Methods Research (Sage Publications) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).  Her specialization includes mixed methods research designs and qualitative research.  She is interested in the procedural issues that arise when implementing different designs and how mixed methods research is applied in different disciplines.  She has co-authored numerous methodological discussions as well as empirical studies using qualitative and mixed methods approaches in science education, family research, and family medicine.  In addition, she served as the Laboratory Manager in the UNL Department of Physics and Astronomy (1993-2005), working with the Research in Physics Education Group, and was a principal investigator on three National Science Foundation projects.  

John W. Creswell is a Professor of Educational Psychology at Teachers College, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  He is affiliated with a graduate program in educational psychology that specializes in quantitative and qualitative methods in education.  In this program, he specializes in qualitative and quantitative research designs and methods, multimethod research, and faculty and academic leadership issues in colleges and universities.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic Mixed Methods text
Creswell & Clark have written an outstanding text detailing the various controversies and options available for mixed methods in social and behavioral research. The research examples are excellent and work beautifully for class exercises/critiques. The details regarding various approaches to mixing QUAL/QUANT approaches are explained here better than in any other text I have read as a research professor. HIGHLY recommended for mixed methods projects and/or classes.

Really useful
This was definitely a worthwhile purchase. I'm a researcher who had a cursory knowledge of qualitative research but not really enough that I could actually write a grant or project proposal with qualitative or mixed methods(which I needed to do). This book was perfect--practical enough that it clearly explained different types of methods, simple enough that it didn't assume advanced or technical knowledge, yet sophisticated enough that it moved quickly and assumed the audience was smart and able to learn quickly--just not familiar with these methods. I sat down and read it cover to cover (which I rarely do with research books) b/c it was easy to read AND because the information was so useful and practical. I'd definitely recommend this to others.

Great Reference on Emerging Research Method
What is mixed methods research? Authors Professor John Cresswell and Professor Vicki L. Plano Clark clearly outline the recent trend of combining the positives of both Qualitative research-popular in Australia, UK and Europe; with Quantitative research-popular in the USA and Canada. Both types of research have acknowledged strengths and weaknesses and the idea of combining the two types is to obtain superior data.

In contrast to some references, the book is written in an easy style with sample activities at the end of each chapter, which are aimed particularly towards the newcomer to MM research to understand the techniques, together with a summary of the chapter's discussion and further reading suggestions.

While comprehensive in covering MM research methodologies,the book also allows the reader to grasp the fundamentals and work through the various types of MM research techniques to determine the best method for the task at hand. Chapters cover the various MM research design, analysis of data, FAQs and what future direction MM will possibly take.

The book is ideal for the newcomer to research methods as well as the seasoned veteran; particularly those researchers seeking fresh ideas in research projects.

In summary, a very good reference book on the topic of MM; well laid out and easy to follow. A good reference for the beginner to research methods as well as the experienced researcher. Well done, Professors Creswell and Plano Clark !