Emerging Advances in Mixed Methods: Addressing ...

Editorial

Emerging Advances in Mixed Methods: Addressing Social Justice

Journal of Mixed Methods Research 7(3) 215–218 Ó The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1558689813493994 mmr.sagepub.com

Donna M. Mertens1

Mixed methods researchers are extending our understandings of how to understand complex social phenomenon, as well as how to use research to develop effective interventions to address complex social problems. This was evident in many of the presentations that were made at the International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry that was held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 15-18, 2013. Researchers from many different countries raised questions and provided solutions to challenges they face in many different contexts. I highlight a few of these presentations as a way for us to see the progress that is being made in the use of mixed methods to enhance social justice and create better living conditions for marginalized members of society. The examples give us pause to think about the use of mixed methods to reach hard-to-reach populations, uncover inequities in access to education and health services, improve services that are provided to members of marginalized communities so that they are more culturally and linguistically appropriate, and use research results for social activism. The first example is taken from the health sciences. Cancer is an insidious disease that is being better understood as a result of genetic research. Medical research has revealed that cancer can be the result of an inherited genetic mutation that greatly increases the probability of developing either breast or prostate cancer. The BRCA gene is found in both women and men, yet the majority of attention in the media and the medical profession is focused on women and breast cancer. Hesse Biber (2013) used a mixed methods study first to investigate women with the BRCA gene; she conducted online surveys and personal interviews. The results of this study revealed that women with the BRCA gene expressed concern for the men in their families, brothers and sons, who had not been tested for the mutation. She then conducted a second sequential explanatory mixed methods study to determine how men’s and women’s experiences differ in terms of why they get tested, what they do with the information about their status, and what kinds of support networks they use. Given the lack of visibility and the stigma attached to men with the BRCA gene, Hesse Biber found it very challenging to find men who were willing to talk to her. She posted an online survey on various websites that ended with a pop-up that invited men who wanted to talk to her to send her an e-mail. This resulted in quantitative data from the survey that indicated that men got tested because of encouragement from their families and because they wanted to ensure that they would be able to fulfill their responsibilities to their children. In the phone interviews, the men explained that their doctors seemed uncomfortable talking about breast cancer and some even discouraged them from getting tested. Thus, 1

Gallaudet University, Washington, DC, USA

Corresponding Author: Donna M. Mertens, Department of Education, Gallaudet University, Fowler Hall 404b, 800 Florida Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA. Email: [email protected]

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this sequence of mixed methods studies provides insights into the comparative experiences of men and women with the BRCA gene, and more importantly, indicates that more attention is needed in the medical and lay communities with regard to the seriousness of this condition in men. Stevan Weine (2013) described a mixed methods program of research at the International Center on Responses to Catastrophes at the University of Illinois at Chicago. They used a mixed methods design to explore feasibility and cultural issues before implementing an intervention that provided mental health services to adolescent refugees from Burundi and Liberia in Chicago and Boston. Hence, the intervention could be tailored to the needs of members of these communities. In addition to this use of mixed methods, Weine discussed several ways that mixed methods were used to test a model of resilience by using multiple forms of triangulation. For example, they triangulated methods (using interviews, shadow observations, and quantitative RCT designs), time points (collecting data when refugees first came to the United States and then over a year’s time), persons (adolescents, parents, and service providers), and locations (Chicago and Boston). This complex use of mixed methods revealed that refugees are appreciative of the services they get, but they feel that accessing the services is overly complicated because agencies do not coordinate with each other. It also revealed differences in perspectives of the adolescents, parents, and service providers in terms of parental involvement in the youth’s education. Adolescents commonly provided guidance for younger siblings; their parents were unavailable either because they were working at the time that homework was done or when meetings were held at the schools, or because of language issues. These findings helped service providers understand the issues more from the refugee family’s perspectives and the kinds of support that were needed, rather than thinking that the parents did not value education. Mixed methods are also being used in Korea to understand the educational experiences of youth who come from other countries (called multicultural students in that country). Using mixed methods, Hyun-Ju Kim (2013) presented quantitative data on the nationalities of the school population in Korea, government funding for multicultural education, and school completion. She also presented newspaper clippings as a data source that explored the lived experiences of multicultural students who experienced discrimination from their peers and teachers, leading to dropping out of school and sometimes to suicide. Their methods included questionnaires to measure the demographics and perceptions of programs; classroom observations, video records, face to face interviews with students and teachers, and curricula document review Their quantitative methods indicated that there has been a fivefold increase from 2006 to 2013 of multicultural children in Korean schools; 40% of multicultural children drop out of school; and Koreans do not drop out of school. The curriculum for multicultural students was designed to teach them English; Korean students also study English in school. The rationale for this content was that the children would have a common language, that is, English. The qualitative data indicated that the multicultural students did not participate actively in their learning and that they dropped out of school because they felt like outcasts. The schools introduced an intervention in which several cultures and languages were taught around a relevant topic, such as greetings, holidays, eating, and manners. In this way, the multicultural students could demonstrate their languages and cultures, as well as learn the language and culture in Korean and English. Preliminary results indicated that the multicultural students participate more actively in learning when this approach is used in the classroom. Members of indigenous research teams provided several interesting advances in mixed methods research. One important point that was raised in these sessions concerned the importance of the historical and social location of knowledge. Nuno Ribeiro (2013) emphasized how important it was to understand the history of the Aboriginal Cree people under colonizers in Canada;

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children were taken from their families and sent to residential schools where their culture and language were destroyed; some members of the Cree nation underwent involuntary sterilization. This historical knowledge influences the willingness of Cree people to participate in research. The study began at the request of the Elders in the Cree nation who expressed concern about the risky behaviors of Cree youth. The first phase of the study involved compiling quantitative data on the risky behaviors and qualitative data to understand the youths’ meaning of health and their beliefs and practices associated with positive and negative health behaviors. Ribeiro described their methodological framework as Two-Eyed Seeing, meaning that they brought together seeing with one eye the strengths of the Indigenous ways of knowing and from the other eye, the strengths of Western ways of knowing. Using both of these eyes, the researchers could build a bridge between these two ways of knowing. They described several ways of collecting data such as epidemiological statistics and photo elicitation, as well as Indigenous practices such as talking circles and Tribal Council meetings. They also used a pile sorting technique in which the Elders wrote on notecards what was possible in terms of support for positive health behaviors, and then the youths sorted the cards into what was important and not important to them. This formed the basis for the interventions used to improve healthy behaviors for the Cree youth. A final example of mixed methods in the service of social justice is taken from the presentation by Rocio Garcia Carrion and Patricia Melgar (2013; also see Garcia, Melgar, & Sorde, 2013) who described the longitudinal nature of mixed methods needed to respectfully conduct community-based research in Spain with the Roma community. The research team was from the University of Barcelona’s Center for Research in Theories and Practice that Overcome Inequalities (CREA). The European Union recognized the Roma people are among the most oppressed groups in Europe and wanted to support research that the Roma people would find valuable. CREA researchers used a mixed methods approach to enter the Roma community in a neighborhood where outsiders were viewed with suspicion because of prior experience with researchers who had left them no better off. The researchers used a communicative methodology of research designed to build a dialogic relationship with members of the Roma community from beginning to the end of the 5-year study. The focus was on building trusting relationships by holding multiple meetings with various constituencies to gather the experiences of many in the community. Together, they planned what was needed to turn around a failing school system. Following this initial period, they began a capacity building period with members of the Roma community to increase their literacy and knowledge of ways to educate their children and how to influence policy. The result is a completely transformed school system that was aided by the use of both quantitative and qualitative data, with an emphasis on respectful and inclusive communication. Mixed methods have thus been instrumental in furthering understandings of complex social problems and contributing to the building of relationships between researchers and people who experience marginalization, whether that is on the basis of gender, race, language, indigeneity, or refugee or immigrant status. These research studies demonstrate the potential that mixed methods have for reaching a richer understanding of the context in which phenomenon are experienced and the complexities of addressing social inequities. One of the most powerful lessons inherent in these research studies is the necessity for researchers to develop strategies for inclusion and communication in respectful ways and to use the knowledge gained to inform the development of interventions that will be viewed as culturally responsive by the members of the communities we serve. Such work is fraught with challenges that go beyond our technical expertise as researchers. Yet, if we are to be part of the change we want to see, this is a skill that merits attention.

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References Carrion, R. G., & Melgar, P. (2013, May). From refusal to getting involved in Romani research. Paper presented at the International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign, IL. Garcia, R., Melgar, P., & Sorde, T. (2013). From refusal to getting involved in Romani research. In D. M. Mertens, F. Cram, & B. Chilisa (Eds.), Indigenous pathways into social research (pp. 267-380). Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. Hesse Biber, S. (2013, May). The gendering of experience and decision-making factors associated with being at risk for the BRCA 1/2 genetic mutation. Paper presented at the International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign, IL. Kim, H.-J. (2013, May). Intercultural activities in elementary English schools (Multicultural English teaching). Paper presented at the International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign, IL. Ribeiro, N. (2013, May). Science Ekwa Inniw-Nisitootumowin: Using a two-eyed seeing methodological approach to Aboriginal youth’s risky health behaviors. Paper presented at the International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign, IL. Weine, S. (2013, May). Incorporating multi-methodological approaches into prevention research with refugees and migrants. Paper presented at the International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry, UrbanaChampaign, IL.

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