Major types of mixed methods design

Methodologists have paid a great attention in order to define the different types of mixed methods designs. Creswell and Clark (2011) define four types of mixed methods designs; the Triangulation Design, the Embedded Design, the Sequential Explanatory Design, and the Sequential Exploratory Design. Due to the nature of this research and the available resources, a review is given of two relevant designs that can be suitable candidates to be adopted in this thesis; Sequential Explanatory Design and Sequential Exploratory Design. This work presents the major characteristics of each design as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each.

4.2.1.1

The Sequential Explanatory Design consists of a two-phase mixed methods design. According to (Creswell et al. 2003), the first phase of the design consists of the collection and analysis of quantitative data while the second phase consists of the collection and analysis of qualitative data. The steps in this design are illustrated in Figure 9. In The Explanatory Design, the priority is normally given to the quantitative phase, and then the two phases are integrated in the interpretation phase of the result (Creswell et al. 2003).

The overall objective of this design is to use the qualitative results to assist in explaining and elaborating on the initial result of the quantitative study (Creswell et al. 2003). For example, this method can be useful when unexpected or surprising results in the quantitative phase need to be more investigated and explained (Morse 1991). The qualitative data is the way to understand and examine these unexpected or surprising results. The core strength of this design is its simplicity in regard to the effort needed to conduct it (e.g. the second part might be simple when there is few surprising or unexpected result) (Creswell and Clark 2011). The core weakness of this design is the possibility of missing important information due to its quantitative nature at the first stage which might restrict and limit participants to certain answers.

4.2.1.2

The Sequential Exploratory Design consists of a two-phase mixed methods design which has some features that are similar to the explanatory design. In this design the first phase is the

QUAN (E.g. experiments,

surveys, etc.)

qual (E.g. interviews focus groups, etc.)

Interpretation based on QUAN qual

Results

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collection and analysis of qualitative data then the second phase is the collection and analysis of quantitative data. In the Exploratory Design the results of the qualitative phase can be used to develop the instruments of the second quantitative phase (Creswell and Clark 2011).

(Creswell et al. 2003) indicated that “the purpose of this design is to use quantitative data and results to assist in the interpretation of qualitative findings”. The exploratory design shows its usefulness when examining elements of an emergent theory and when generalizing qualitative findings to populations (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie 2004). Figure 10, shows the flow and the emphasized phase of the Sequential Exploratory Design for the purpose of instruments development.

The purpose of starting the design qualitatively is to explore and gain insights about a phenomenon and then build the second quantitative phase to help interpret the findings of the first phase. Researchers first qualitatively study and investigate the research topic with a few participants then the qualitative result (themes and codes) guide the development of a quantitative survey instrument. In this design, the qualitative and quantitative designs can be integrated through the development of the survey instrument (Creswell et al. 2003).

The Exploratory Design has some advantages due to its two-phase build and the fact that only one type of data is collected and analysed at a time. Notable advantages of this design include:

 The two separate phases of this design make it straightforward to conduct.

 The inclusion of the quantitative phase maximizes the qualitative approaches acceptability in quantitative-biased communities (Creswell and Clark 2011).

However, there are a number of challenges associated with such a design (Creswell and Clark 2011). Notable challenges include:

 This two-phase approach requires a large amount of time to implement. Researchers should be aware of this factor and allow enough time into their study’s plan.

 Researchers will have to decide whether the same individuals will serve as participants in both the qualitative and quantitative phases.

FIGURE 10 EXPLORATORY DESIGN: INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT MODEL, ADOPTED FROM (CRESWELL AND CLARK 2011). qual data collection qual data analysis qual results Develop instrument QUAN data collection QUAN data analysis QUAN

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 A decision must be made by researchers about the data to be used from the qualitative phase to develop the quantitative phase and how to use these data to generate quantitative measures (see Qualitative Phase findings).

The Sequential Exploratory Design is an appropriate candidate to adopt in this thesis. The exploratory emphasis of this design is a suitable fit to the problem investigated by this thesis. This is due to the lack of studies in the domain of this thesis which made it hard to make any assumptions of what is relevant to users and their perception of feedback requests. Starting the study qualitatively allowed to explore and get enough insights on how users behave and interact when receiving feedback requests from software applications. Adding a quantitative phase which takes more emphasis than the qualitative phase to the study allows to assess the interpretation of the qualitative findings and see what results to generalize to the targeted population. The design was clearly integrated in two stages, in designing the quantitative survey by building on the result of the qualitative phase and in the discussion of the overall results. Table 3, outlines the overall procedures of the adopted mixed method.