mixed methods & my interests Tamar 3/11

The authors mention various advantages of mixed methods research including the potential for counterbalancing the strengths and weaknesses of both quant and qual methods.  On the flip side, some people question how two traditions that are grounded in totally different epistemological assumptions can actually work together.   The authors discuss pragmatism -- a whatever works/best addresses the research problem/questions.   This sounds good, but I'm not sure that it resolves any of the potential problems.

The authors also discuss potential issues with sampling, which I could see as a problem in mixed methods designs.  Quantitative studies have much larger samples than qualitative studies, and comparing the results of studies with such different sample sizes could be seen as a validity issue.

I do however think it would be interesting to engage in explanatory work with a colleague who looks at similar topics (such as feedback).  I would be interested in doing qualitative to explain quant data (whether to further confirm or to question/challenge).   I wouldn't want to do this work alone though; I would want someone well trained in quantitative methods to work with me if I ever did mixed methods work.

For my class project, I am interested in designing a study that looks at feedback on student writing.  This would be a qualitative study.  Here are the questions  I am interested in investigating along with the qualitative methods I'd like to use:

Research Questions:

RQ1:  What types of feedback do faculty/instructors give?   (categorize by type/theme;code)

RQ2:   What are the reasons they give for their feedback choices?  (interviews; CDA)

RQ3:  How do students understand/take up/feel about this feedback?  (interviews; CDA)

What I am really curious about is the relationship between the feedback types
--the choices made by those giving feedback/ what they prioritize and why, how this is
received/understood by writers, and how this influences writer identity/voice/choices.