Section 5: This section will teach novice researchers:

1. The advantages and limitations of using a mixed method design in research using the REA, including studies using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach.
2. The differences between the various mixed method designs including: the sequential exploratory strategy, the sequential explanatory strategy, the concurrent triangulation strategy, and the concurrent nested strategy.
3. How to implement mixed methods designs in a systematic manner and in a way that integrates quality control mechanisms.

Example of what you will find in this section:

This curriculum presents four mixed method designs. Two of these designs involve sequential (or back-to-back) collection of qualitative and quantitative data and the other two involve concurrent collection of qualitative and quantitative data.

Concurrent nested strategy. Like the concurrent triangulation strategy, this model has one data collection phase, as opposed to sequential phases. The difference is that this model does not give equal priority to both qualitative and quantitative methods, but has one predominant and one subordinate method (it does not matter if the predominant one is quantitative or qualitative). The subordinate method will be embedded in the predominate method. The purpose of the model is less to verify findings than to expand the study to gain a fuller description and a broader perspective. With a combination of qualitative and quantitative strategies, different kinds of questions can be addressed. This is also a good choice for the REA because the data are collected concurrently and this process shortens the overall time period of the study. Results from both methods are then integrated when the researchers interpret and/or write up the findings.
The implementation team might again consider this design when team members are confident they have enough information from their pre-research or alternative sources to develop a questionnaire (or other type of quantitative measurement instrument), and will not need to rely on qualitative findings to do this.

A very common form of a concurrent nested strategy would occur when the researchers are giving a survey but also include a section where the respondents can fill in (or are asked) open-ended questions. The open-ended questions usually deal with processes, descriptions, and sociocultural factors that are not necessarily addressed very well through closed-ended questions. The reverse can also occur when a qualitative interview is being conducted but respondents are asked at the end of each series of questions for a numeric summary rating for the topic of the questions. For example, a series of questions might have addressed services provided by a particular organization, and at the end of the series, the interviewee might be asked to rate the effectiveness of the services, on a scale of 1 to 10.