ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the aim and research questions that guided this study and explains the research design. It offers a detailed description of the qualitative and quantitative strands in this mixed-methods scholarly investigation, explains how these strands were interwoven at various phases of the inquiry and gives insights into the decision-making process behind the steps in the analytical procedure. This chapter also highlights the need for mixed-methods approaches in research on language learners’ country stereotypes and L2 motivation. The chapter argues that besides allowing to establish a seamless linkage between the main constructs of interest, a mixed-methods design where country stereotypes are freely recalled by language learners would create affordances for adopting a wider array of theoretical perspectives.
