Understanding the principles of mixed methods in educational research

I learnt about  mixed methods in educational research in my previous course. After reading Plowright (2013) what I found to be the most stimulating was the information on the mixed methods. The reason is that as Creswell et al.(2003) says that “A mixed methods study involves the collection or analysis of both quantitative and/or qualitative data in a single study in which the data are collected concurrently or sequentially, are given a priority, and involve the integration of the data at one or more stages in the process of research" (as cited in Plowright, 2013, p. 66 ) gives a simple statement on the mixed method which gives confidence to me as a researcher to define this approach in simple words  and also to employ it without any confusion in understanding.

An idea that I found to be problematic was “Philosophy does not determine the research methodology employed. It’s the other way round: methodology determines the philosophy you might employ to explain your approach to undertaking research.” (Plowright, 2011, p. 181) The reason was while I was discussing my research methodology I was getting hard time from choosing the method to get the data. But the time I planned how the data can be extracted for the research I was able to categories the method. To sum it up I was taking the bottom- up approach that is, to plan the extraction of data rather than to choose the method. Perhaps the approach to select the methods is not the same for everyone.

References

Plowright, D. (2013). To what extend do postgraduate students understand the principles of mixed methods in educational research? International journal of Multiple Research Approaches, 7(1), 66-82.