ABSTRACT
This chapter explores mixed methods assumptions and strategies and raise questions about them. CharmazKathy comments derive from three related areas of interest: grounded theory methods, qualitative inquiry, and reflections on a demonstration project. Leading spokespersons for mixed methods research view the turn to mixed methods as a paradigm shift of similar magnitude to the qualitative revolution that Denzin and Lincoln proclaimed in 1994. Mixed methods proponents usually view their approach as combining qualitative and quantitative approaches including their respective perspectives, analyses, and forms of inference to gain breadth and depth of understanding and to corroborate the findings of the each method. Technical advancements may play a role in expanding qualitative components in quantitative-dominant mixed methods research designs. Nigel Fielding and Csar Cisneros-Puebla (2010) have already integrated CAQDAS and GIS methods in an innovative mixed methods approach. Grounded theory poses interesting problems for mixed methods research, precisely because grounded theory is contested from both within and without.
