MIXED INVESTIGATION: CHARACTERISTICS AND EXAMPLES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The joint research is a type of research in which the researcher uses more than one method to get results. For the most part, this involves the development of research combining a quantitative with a qualitative methodology, in order to obtain more extensive results.

Given its nature, this type of investigative methodology is sometimes called multimethodology. It is used whenever the research problem can be better clarified using both quantitative and qualitative information, rather than one or the other separately.

Using both types of methods makes the data obtained more accurate, since the error factor that both methods have when used individually is eliminated. One of the benefits of mixed research is the possibility of "triangulating" methods, or the ease of studying the same phenomenon in different ways.

characteristics

Ability to obtain information

One of the elements that makes mixed research viable is its ability to obtain information about a research problem of which little is known.

This is represented in the investigations where it is first required to obtain information about the variables of the problem and then develop the rest of the study. Rather than conducting two separate studies, it is more practical to use quantitative and qualitative methods together to create a single investigation.

This same capacity helps to avoid having to develop more than one investigation to corroborate the results of another; this also applies to investigations that can produce ambiguous results.

To avoid developing more than one investigation to clarify the results, two methodologies are combined and more concrete results are obtained.

Diversity of methodological results

By using both methods, these investigations make the quantitative and qualitative methods complement each other. This makes the disadvantages of each method offset and the results that occur are more satisfactory.

In investigations where ambiguities and unbiased responses need to be avoided, a qualitative methodology can be counterproductive; When applying a mixed method, the margin of error is minimized, counteracting the answers obtained from the qualitative method with those obtained quantitatively.

Instruments

The development of instruments for a mixed investigation is often much more versatile than that of a single method investigation.

Combining elements of both types of research allows creating surveys and interviews with more elaborate responses, which serve to obtain mixed results.

That is, mixed instruments allow the researcher to combine questions so that the results produce much more efficient answers.

Development

As a consequence of the use of new instruments and an elaboration of two methods, investigations can become quite difficult to develop.

Combining the two methods is likely to be difficult for the researcher, so it may be necessary for the mixed investigation to be conducted by more than one individual.

The inherent difficulty of this type of research means that more human and physical resources are required, as well as a greater amount of time to effectively develop a mixed investigation.

Another difficulty that can arise during development is the implementation of one method alongside another.

While this is the greatest benefit of mixed research, it is not always easy to apply two methods at the same time. Developing the instrument can be quite complicated, since creating valid questions for two methodologies is not always easy.

Similarly, discrepancies in the results may not be easy to detect. In general, in an investigation where only one methodology is applied, error detection is easy.

However, when using two different systems, it is often more difficult to recognize what needs to change for the results to be correct.

Weather

There are several types of mixed investigations according to the moment in which each methodology is carried out.

In some cases it is important that the quantitative data is obtained first than the qualitative one, but in others it is better if the opposite occurs. This depends on the desired result, and should be taken into account before starting the investigation.

Concurrent mixed investigation

In concurrent investigations, quantitative and qualitative data is obtained at the same time. Neither has priority when conducting the investigation.

Sequential mixed investigation

Sequential investigations have two stages in which the investigation is carried out. Each stage serves to execute a different methodology, and the use of each one will depend on the judgment of the researcher.

Multifaceted Mixed Investigation

In this type of research, the researcher carries out the process of collecting quantitative and qualitative data in a longer period of time.

Time is not as significant a constraint for these investigations, and the process may take longer than usual.

Examples

Scenario 1

An ideal scenario for mixed research arises when different families are to be surveyed about the results of a specific clothes bleach.

When the survey results are obtained, more information may be needed regarding the use of bleach in that home.

In this case, after processing the data from the first methodology, more detailed information is obtained through interviews with two or more survey participants.

In this way, the information obtained in the first step of the investigation can be complemented with that obtained in the second stage.

Scenario 2

Another example where the methodology is reversed is when you want to conduct an interview about the type of customers that visit a store. In this case, the store managers are interviewed to qualitatively determine the information.

Once the information is obtained, an instrument is prepared in the form of a survey based on the data obtained. In this way, the survey that you want to carry out is elaborated with much more precision and the results obtained are more specific.

References

1. Mixed Methods Research, FoodRisc Resource Center, (nd). Taken from foodrisc.org
2. Mixed Methods Research, American Public University System, (nd). Taken from libguides.com
3. Multimethodology: Towards a framework for mixing methodologies, J. Minguers and J. Brocklesby, 1997. Taken from sciencedirect.com
4. Multimethodology, Wikipedia in English, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org
5. Mixed Methods: Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis While Studying Patient-Centered Medical Home Models; J. Wisdom and J. Cresswell, 2013. Taken from ahrq.gov