Guidance on Using Mixed Methods From Diverse International Organizations in the Behavioral, Social, Fundamental, and Health Sciences

Abstract

In planning of the publication of this issue of the Journal of Mixed Methods Research (JMMR), the 60th over 15 years, we reflected about the growth of mixed methods (MM) and potential indicators of the maturity of the field. Several indicators signify the maturity of the field. While researchers had only a handful of books on mixed methods research (MMR) in the early 1990s, three decades later, books seem available to guide MMR and evaluation in most major fields of investigation in the social, behavioral, and health sciences. While JMMR emerged as the first journal focused on advances in MMR, at least 13 journals at the time of writing this editorial specifically seek out or encourage MMR methodological contributions (Mixed Methods Program, n.d.). Empirical MM studies seemingly can also be found in the academic journals of most fields in the social, behavioral, business, and health sciences. Formed in 2013 (Poth et al., 2018), the Mixed Methods International Research Association (MMIRA) now has one affiliate and six chapters around the globe (Mixed Methods International Research Association, 2021). October 2021 marks season 5 of the popular MMIRA massive open online course (MOOC) series that promotes understanding and advances in MM methodology. Another hallmark of maturity is the extent that international organizations embrace and actually provide guidance for conducting MM studies. When a professional, government, or non-profit organization provides methodological guidance for its stakeholders, that guidance serves implicitly as an endorsement of the methodology for use in the types of research and evaluation that it