Mixed methods in community psychology: A values‐forward synthesis
Mixed methods research (MMR) combines multiple traditions, methods, and worldviews to enrich research design and interpretation of data. In this virtual special issue, we highlight the use of MMR within the field of community psychology. The first MMR studies appeared in flagship community psycholog...
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Published in | American journal of community psychology Vol. 72; no. 3-4; pp. 355 - 365 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Blackwell Science Ltd
01.12.2023
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Mixed methods research (MMR) combines multiple traditions, methods, and worldviews to enrich research design and interpretation of data. In this virtual special issue, we highlight the use of MMR within the field of community psychology. The first MMR studies appeared in flagship community psychology journals over 30 years ago (in 1991). To explore the uses of MMR in the field, we first review existing literature by identifying all papers appearing in either Journal of Community Psychology or American Journal of Community Psychology in which the word “mixed” appeared. A total of 88 publications were identified. Many of these papers illustrate the pragmatic use of MMR to evaluate programs and to answer different research questions using different methods. We coded articles based on Green et al.'s classifications of the purpose of the mixing: triangulation, development, complementarity, expansion, and initiation. Complementarity was the most frequently used purpose (46.6% of articles), and nearly a quarter of articles mixed for multiple purposes (23.86%). We also coded for any community psychology values advanced by the use of mixed methods. We outline three themes here with corresponding exemplars. These articles illustrate how MMR can highlight ecological analysis and reconsider dominant, individual‐level paradigms; center participant and community member experiences; and unpack paradoxes to increase the usefulness of research findings.
Highlights
Community psychologists have increasingly conducted mixed methods research (MMR).
MMR can be used in ways that align with the values and aims of community psychology (CP).
MMR in CP can be used to understand context, honor marginalized voices, and unpack paradox. |
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Bibliography: | Shabnam Javdani and Sadie E. Larsen contributed equally to this study and should be considered co‐first authors. To see the manuscripts included in this VSI, please visit the following link https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1002/(ISSN)1573-2770.mixed-methods ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Shabnam Javdani and Sadie E. Larsen contributed equally to this study and should be considered co-first authors. |
ISSN: | 0091-0562 1573-2770 |
DOI: | 10.1002/ajcp.12703 |