Article
Beck, C. D. (2014). Antecedents of servant leadership: A mixed methods study. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 21(3), 299-314.
Quality Criteria
1. The rationale for needing mixed methods research is appropriate and justified.
Rate
3=Excellent
Evidence and/or Reasoning
a) I am very impressed that the author explicitly states the mixed methods study in the title because the this type of research design is more complicated than quantitative and qualitative research. It is considerate of the author to inform the readers in the first place.
b) The author explains the current situation that most of the servant leadership studies are ambiguous, anecdotal, and lack of empirical analyses in the Introduction section.
c) Then the researcher provides two reasons to justify the use of mixed methods.
Quality Criteria
2. The choice of the mixed methods design is appropriate and justified.
Rate
3=Excellent
Evidence and/or Reasoning
a) The researcher has chosen the sequential explanatory research design consisted of two distinct phases: quantitative followed by qualitative.
b) The researcher claims that quantitative results alone may be inadequate because of the complexities of leadership, so qualitative data are needed to help explain initial quantitative data.
c) It is easy to conclude that the quantitative component has the priority through the actual words in the Methodology and Procedure section and the timing through the subtitles in this section. (QUAN → qual)
Quality Criteria
3. The quantitative methods are of good quality based on the standards of quantitative research.
Rate
3=Excellent
Evidence and/or Reasoning
a) A web-based survey using the Servant Leadership Questionnaire is applied to collecting data.
b) Participants are recruited from a group of leaders who have met the criteria set by the researcher, and there are 499 leaders and 630 raters.
c) The analyses of the gathered data of phase 1 (quantitative research) is presented before phase 2.
d) The participants’ and raters’ ethnicity are thoroughly discussed in the study, as well as the characteristics of them.
e) The instrument used in the phase 1 is well explained. There is a table presenting all the variables under different subscales.
f) The researcher states that descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations serve as the basis for analyzing the independent and dependent variables. The statistically significant results are also demonstrated in the study.
Quality Criteria
4. The qualitative methods are of good quality based on the standards of qualitative research.
Rate
3=Excellent
Evidence and/or Reasoning
a) The researcher uses the in-depth one-on-one audio taped interviews for the qualitative study (phase 2).
b) 12 leaders are purposively selected to participate in this phase.
c) The interview protocol includes nine open-ended questions which are pilot tested for clarity with graduate students in a leadership studies program. The interview protocol and questions are presented in the appendix.
e) There are actual words said by participants presenting in the study.
f) In order to create an accurate record of the data and to treat the participants respectfully, the participants are informed that the interview will be audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. In addition, the participants review the transcripts of their interviews to clarify or refine their responses as needed.
g) The procedures of analyzing the qualitative data are all of high quality, including rereading and coding the data, narrowing down the scale of the data, claiming the reliabilities and validity of the data, and so on.
Quality Criteria
5. The quantitative and qualitative components of the study are meaningfully mixed.
Rate
3=Excellent
Evidence and/or Reasoning
a) The researcher illustrate four major findings in the Findings section. Especially, the researcher mentions that “Where appropriate, quantitative data are woven in with the interview data to augment and strengthen the discussion” (Beck, 2014, p. 305).
b) The researcher explicitly discusses the interaction and the connection of the quantitative and qualitative components after presenting each finding.
c) It is clear that all the qualitative findings help to explain the quantitative results.
d) In the Discussion section, the qualitative, quantitative, and mixed results are explicitly discussed.
Quality Criteria
6. The study used a rigorous application of mixed methods research to address the purpose.
Rate
3=Excellent
Evidence and/or Reasoning
The mixed methods design fits well with the research problem and purpose mentioned in the beginning of the study. Also, the quantitative, qualitative, and mixed aspects of the study fit together in a logical way.
Quality Criteria
7. The use of mixed methods produced a good understanding of the research purpose.
Rate
3=Excellent
Evidence and/or Reasoning
The findings provide complete, valid, and in-depth answers to the study’s research questions. Evidently, the integrated findings go beyond what was learned from the separate quantitative results and qualitative findings.
Total Score = 21 (17-21 = High quality)
I really like this study. The information is complete and clear, the analyses are thorough and in-depth, the findings combining the quantitative results and qualitative findings are impressive. I will use it as a template when I am going to conduct a mixed methods design research.
References
Beck, C. D. (2014). Antecedents of servant leadership: A mixed methods study. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 21(3), 299-314.
Plano-Clark, V., & Creswell, J. (2015). Understanding research: A consumer’s guide (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.