As we continue to celebrate our growing researcher community. I think, each one of us should continue to grow an agile mentality because mixed methods requires the practitioner to flip-flop between different points of views, methods and how each design has different impacts for different users.
Merging and making sense of data is perhaps the most challenging when we are making sense in analysis & synthesis. We are coverging and diverging different values and systems. See Why Mix Methods Research Is Challenging? to learn more.
Applying an agile mindset into research
Instructions: On a piece of paper write down your thoughts and answers as you practice an agile mindset.
FYI: This isn’t meant to be a research study. We’re focusing on practicing agility. Think of this as a creative exercise. There aren’t right or wrong answers.
How might we improve work satisfaction for employees of all genders?
Reflect on:
- What would research look like if you take inductive reasoning?
- What would research look like if you take deductive reasoning?
- What about about both at the same time?
I find it useful to think of questions like the ones above whenever I am assessing research questions and designing research studies. This helps me look at my research method tool box and see what best suits the current state of the product, service, experience, etc.
Once you’ve discovered the practical and conceptual reasons to mix your methods, and you’ve done some initial thinking about whether you will merge, connect, or embed your data. Typically, what follows is creating the research plan.
I haven’t design a research plan that is 50% deductive 50% inductive. There is always one that is more dominant than the other.
An inductive-dominant research design will assume that participants are making sense of something. So overall, the researcher’s goal is to observe and interpret that process.
A deductive-dominant research design will assume there is a given set of facts. So, the researcher will uncover those facts by means of proving or disproving a hypothesis.
Back to the activity.
