Guiding principles for mixed methods research in software engineering

Abstract

Mixed methods research is often used in software engineering, but researchers outside of the social or human sciences often lack experience when using these designs. This paper provides guiding principles and advice on how to design mixed method research, and to encourage the intentional, rigorous, and innovative application of mixed methods in software engineering. It also presents key properties of core mixed method research designs. Through a number of fictitious but recognizable software engineering research scenarios, we showcase how to choose suitable mixed method designs and consider the inevitable trade-offs any design choice leads to. We describe several antipatterns that illustrate what to avoid in mixed method research, and when mixed method research should be considered over other approaches.