Mixed Methodology

Abstract

There has been a slow but steady increase in the number of mixed methods research studies in the social sciences over the last decade (see Creswell, A concise introduction to mixed methods research, SAGE, 2015) as well as in the applied linguistics literature in general. A major advantage of mixed methods research is the ability to gain a rich, complete picture of the phenomenon under investigation, usually through the triangulation of data obtained through different qualitative sources with descriptive and quantitative data. The careful combination of both approaches can allow the research to examine a problem from a range of complementary angles. In this chapter we demonstrate how different approaches can be used together in applied linguistics research and provide practical advice on how to conduct a mixed methods study along with some suggestions for design and data analysis.