Mixed Methods, Culture, and Psychology: A Review of Mixed Methods in Culture-Specific Psychological Research

Abstract

This methodological review was undertaken to explore how researchers use mixed methods in culture-specific psychological research. Mixed methods represents a budding approach with the potential to explore the nexus of context and psychology, capturing the uniqueness of psychological phenomena within cultures. Twelve empirical studies that used mixed methods in culturally specific psychology were examined to determine designs commonly used as well as patterns of mixed methods use in culturally driven psychological research. In line with the study by Creswell and Plano Clark (2007) , concurrent, sequential, and embedded designs were identified with some variation. Analyses indicate that mixed methods is an integral means to ask complex psychological questions without imposing Western norms and ignoring contextual factors. Culturally specific psychological research is discussed as an overarching discipline in which culture is at the forefront of psychological discovery and analysis. Mixed methods is situated within this broad discipline as a method that provides distinct contributions to studying the intersections of cultures and psychology.