The problems and prospects in the teaching of mixed methods research

Mixed methods research courses in the United States are primarily offered at the graduate and upper-division undergraduate level, and have only emerged over the course of the last five years (Frels, Onwuegbuzie, Leech, & Collins, 2012). A recent study of one hundred schools of education throughout the USA notes that twentytwo percent of graduate programs require their graduate students to enroll in a mixed methods course. In addition, twenty percent of educational programs encourage students to take one mixed methods course as an elective offering (Leech & Goodwin, 2008). At the same time, there is a lack of pedagogical literature on the challenges of teaching students mixed methods (Onwuegbuzie, Frels, Leech, & Collins, 2011).