{"id":253,"date":"2018-11-03T07:50:11","date_gmt":"2018-11-03T13:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/?p=253"},"modified":"2018-11-03T07:50:11","modified_gmt":"2018-11-03T13:50:11","slug":"unit-7-understanding-mixed-methods-research-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/2018\/11\/03\/unit-7-understanding-mixed-methods-research-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"Unit 7 – Understanding Mixed Methods Research Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part A<\/p>\n

1. What is at the heart of the quantitative\/qualitative debate?<\/p>\n

At first I wasn\u2019t sure if I missed an assigned reading or audio\/video clip because I could not find where this was specifically addressed in this week\u2019s content.\u00a0 I went looking outside of this week\u2019s reading, and discovered both scholarly and mainstream articles on the topic, and differing opinions.\u00a0 One opinion is that \u201ca good evaluation requires numbers and stories \u2013 there is no meaning of one without the other\u2026 qualitative and quantitative can tell a better story of outcomes than either can alone\u201d (\u201cLearning and Evaluation\u201d, 2017).\u00a0 However, although dated now, Sale, Lohfeld & Brazil (2002) were more cautious in their endorsement:<\/p>\n

We believe that mixed-methods research is now being adopted uncritically by a new generation of researchers who have overlooked the\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 underlying assumptions behind the qualitative-quantitative debate.\u00a0 Qualitative and quantitative research methods have grown out of, and still represent different paradigms.\u00a0 However, the fact that the approaches are incommensurate does not mean that multiple methods cannot be combined in a single study if it is done for complementary purposes… we have proposed seeking complementarity which we believe is both philosophically and practically sound.<\/p>\n

The article by Stentz, Plano Clark, and Matkin (2012) appears to indirectly support the validity to this critique as the authors identify that in a small subset of leadership studies the rigor that should be expected in the mixed methods research is lacking.<\/p>\n

However, authors such as Bass still see the value of mixed methods research in leadership studies and advocates for \u201c\u2026presenting the possibility of a new paradigm for leadership that combines the use of both objectivist and subjectivist toward better understanding of leadership as a complex phenomenon\u201d (as cited in Stentz, Plano Clark, & Matkin, 2012).\u00a0 Creswell (2013) presents the argument that mixed methods research is often used in the media where viewers \u201c\u2026get the qualitative evidence that begins to supplement or augment the statistical evidence to have a greater understanding\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Overall, there is value to mixing quantitative and qualitative data if the research design applies rigor to both methods.<\/p>\n

2. Do you think mixed-methods research can provide a more complete picture for leadership studies? Why or why not?<\/p>\n

I think that there are a lot of valid points in the Creswell (2013) video.\u00a0 I do think that people like numbers, and people like stories (Creswell, 2013) and that when you apply rigorous methods to both research methods this can lead to a greater understanding of a research problem.\u00a0 I believe that this is evidenced in the articles that I have read this week, so mixed methods research can be done well, and it can provide that complete picture.<\/p>\n

Part B<\/p>\n

3. Discuss your evaluation of the mixed methods approach in the servant leadership article chosen. Include the quality rating (0-3) and the rationale\/evidence for the rating in the response.<\/p>\n

The article I chose this week was \u201cDefining and measuring servant leadership behaviour in organizations\u201d by S. Sendjaya, J.C. Sarros, and J.C. Santora.\u00a0 The evaluation of the use of mixed methods is presented in Table 1.\u00a0 I am not sure how to self-analyze my results this week.\u00a0 In the past weeks I have felt that I didn\u2019t have a good understanding of what I was looking for, and was concerned that my ratings were low.\u00a0 This week I feel more confident, and my ratings are high \u2013 I am skeptical that they can actually be that high.\u00a0 So I am not sure if this means that I am getting more comfortable with identifying the criteria and I am learning the content from the Plano-Clark and Creswell (2015) text, or I\u2019m further off than I was previously.<\/p>\n

Table 1<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Part C<\/p>\n

4. Describe an example of a Transformational Servant Leader in your life and then discuss how you would apply a mixed-methods approach to the study of servant leadership.<\/p>\n

I am fortunate to have two examples, one from work, and one from church; I am going to choose the former CEO of the Cypress Health Region. \u00a0This is a leader who seeks to empower and elevate followers (Bass, as cited in Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008), and was able to lift others to new heights of motivation and morality, thereby encouraging herself in these areas (Burns, as cited in Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008). She was very focused on organizational goals, but also could focus on individual followers and serve them; she came from a mental health background and was able to serve marginalized people, characteristics of a a servant leader (Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008).\u00a0 I am not certain if her priorities were followers first, organization second, and her own needs last (Graham, as cited in Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008) she was truly interested in the followers own ultimate good.<\/p>\n

I am struggling with identifying how I would apply mixed methods research to my study of servant leadership.\u00a0 I do understand the value and think that understanding the phenomenon of the leadership style would require a qualitative approach, but providing evidence of the outcomes and results would be more convincing to decision makers.\u00a0 In my professional context the idea I have is doing a sequential exploratory study and starting with some small focus groups with employees from different program areas that identify that their manager exhibits the servant leadership behaviours and first determining how that makes them feel and if this influences how they then treat their patients.\u00a0 This would be followed up with a larger quantitative study to identify if patients in that program area submit fewer complaints, or greater satisfaction.\u00a0 I am not sure if this would meet the rigor required for a high quality mixed methods study, but this is my initial stab at an idea.<\/p>\n

I was surprised to realize from the Creswell (2013) video how much of mainstream media is actually presented in a mixed-methods format of some sort.\u00a0 I then realized that much of what we do in quality improvement in health care includes a mixed-methods format \u2013 asking for the subjective experience of the patient and then developing an experiment to test an assessment or treatment that improves the patient experience.\u00a0 Is this application of mixed-methods study also present in your profession or work environment, and what would be some examples?<\/p>\n

P.S.\u00a0 I realized yesterday to my shame that I spelled Creswell wrong in my last blog (corrected now), however, I felt like perhaps I am permitted some small mistakes when I discovered that authors such as Stentz, Plano Clark, and Markin (2012) spelled Northouse wrong.\u00a0 Also, I found it interesting that I had to watch how I cited the Plano-Clark references as some of them include the hyphen and some do not, and I had to try and keep them straight.<\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

Plano-Clark, V. & Creswell, J. (2015). Understanding research: A consumer\u2019s guide<\/em> (2nd<\/sup> ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.<\/p>\n

Creswell, J. W. (2013 Jun 1). What is mixed methods research<\/em> [Video file]. Retrieved from http:\/\/johnwcreswell.com\/videos\/<\/p>\n

Learning and evaluation\/Quantitative vs Qualitative.\u00a0 (2017 Nov 8).\u00a0 Retrieved November 1, 2018 from https:\/\/meta.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Learning_and_Evaluation\/Quantitative_vs_Qualitative<\/p>\n

Sale, J.E., Lohfeld, L.H., Brazil, K. (2002). Revisiting the quantitative-qualitative debate: Implications for mixed-methods research. Qual Quant<\/em> 36<\/em>(1): 43-54. doi: [10.1023\/A:1014301607592]<\/p>\n

Sendjaya, S., Sarros, J.C., Santora, J.C. (2008). Defining and measuring servant leadership behaviour in organizations. Journal of Management Studies, 45<\/em>(2), 401-424.<\/p>\n

Stentz, J.E., Plano Clark, V.L., Matkin, G.S. (2012). Applying mixed methods to leadership research: A review of current practices. The Leadership Quarterly 23<\/em>(6): 1173-1183.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part A 1. What is at the heart of the quantitative\/qualitative debate? At first I wasn\u2019t sure if I missed an assigned reading or audio\/video clip because I could not find where this was specifically addressed in this week\u2019s content.\u00a0 I went looking outside of this week\u2019s reading, and discovered both scholarly and mainstream articles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs591","category-unit-7","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/258"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":257,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions\/257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}