ABSTRACT
The chapter provides a glimpse of the range of ways that mixed methods has been paired with grounded theory and how it can serve as an integrative framework at the onset of a study, offer interpretive insight as a study is underway, and/or stand as its principal outcome. The chapter begins by considering the word “design” and the implications it carries of conceiving of a research project as an integrated systematic whole where both a methodology, like grounded theory, or a theoretical framework can provide a guide to link the phases of the research process from initial framing of research questions, to sampling plan, data collection, analysis and drawing conclusions in a systematic and coherent way. It shifts next to highlighting the advantages to theoretical insight offered by thinking of a core phenomenon in a multi-dimensional way. The heart of the chapter is in the section that uses three exemplars to underscore the variety of ways that MM-GTM has been used at different phases in the research process, from a driver of design, to serving an interpretive role during analysis, and in a more conventional sense as the outcome of a study.
