Weighing Mixing in a Decision About Priority in Mixed Methods Research

Abstract

Priority is a dimension of research design in a mixed method study that provides a signpost to signify how a study’s principal findings were derived. The contribution of mixing has not typically been considered as an explicit component of the weighting of the priority of a mixed methods study. Adding the expression mixed priority to the terminology used to provide transparency about priority is one way to distinguish research with an interactive design where qualitative and quantitative data are merged during analysis to create a sum that is greater than its parts. The most significant implication of this discussion is to add integration as a third factor in the conceptualization of priority in mixed method research.