Citation

Fetters MD. J. Mix. Methods Res. 2016; 10(1): 3-11.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1558689815620883

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Recent authors have examined the origins of mixed methods research arguing that it is actually nothing new, and that current interest in mixed methods research is little more than a fad. For example, Pelto (2015) illustrated that anthropologists have used qualitative and quantitative methods together for more than 80 years, claimed that mixed methods research was nothing new, and questioned the excitement about mixed methods as an emerging methodology. The fields of social psychology (Festinger, Riecken, & Schachter, 1956; Milgram, 1974) and sociology (Jahoda, Lazarsfeld, & Zeisel, 1971) as well have had a history of combining qualitative and quantitative methods in single programs of research. In this issue, Maxwell traces evidence for combining qualitative and quantitative data back for centuries, and provides examples from the natural, social and health sciences traditions. (Maxwell, 2016) Also in this issue, Ramlo traces Q methodology to 1935 (Ramlo, 2016). Undoubtedly, combining qualitative and quantitative methods has occurred in other fields as well prior to emergence of the term mixed methods in the late 20th century. While there is clear evidence that using qualitative and quantitative data collection procedures together is not new (Teddlie & Johnson, 2009) during the early- to mid-20th century, mixed methods research never had a full chance to develop fully because of the power and ascendency of other paradigms, especially in the social and health sciences, that controlled how research was conducted and written. Regarding mixed methods research as a fad, one observer found difficulty in identifying anything novel about mixed methods research, and concluded that it was, “arguably yet another in a long line of methodological trends in vogue in the guise of methodological innovation” (Sandelowski, 2014, p. 3).

It strikes me that arguments claiming mixed methods research has been around for a long time, and it is …

Language: en