Telling Better Stories: An Introduction to the Special Issue Using Mixed Methods Research in the Field of Behavioral Disorders

Abstract

Social science researchers are increasingly embracing the mixed methods research (MMR) paradigm (Corr et al., 2020; Creswell et al., 2011; Leko et al., 2022). This is evidenced, in part, by the creation of special interest groups in research organizations (e.g., the American Education Research Association Mixed Methods Special Interest Group; the American Evaluation Association Mixed Methods in Evaluation Technical Interest Group; and the Institute of Education Sciences Mixed Methods in Education Research Technical Working Group), two specialty journals focusing on MMR (the Journal of Mixed Methods Research and the International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches) and the growth of the Mixed Methods International Research Association (MMIRA.org), which includes researchers from across academic disciplines. The MMIRA website describes MMR as the “mixing/combining/integrating quantitative and/or qualitative methods, epistemologies, axiologies, and stakeholder perspectives and standpoints.” Fundamentally, MMR involves inquiry that explicitly capitalizes on the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative approaches with varying degrees of integration during the conceptualization, planning, data collection, data analysis, and reporting of study findings phases of the study process (Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2017; Holt et al., 2021). It important to note that MMR is neither a research panacea nor appropriate for all research endeavors (Ridenour & Newman, 2008). Indeed, as with all research, the research question should determine which methodology is employed (Newman & Houchins, 2018). Still, the potential value of MMR for the identification of effective and efficient interventions that are contextually and socially valid, particularly for students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (EBD), cannot be overstated (e.g., Anderson, 2018; Schoonenboon et al., 2018). Educating students with EBD is a complex endeavor that is situated within and across multidimensional contexts consisting of individuals (children and adults) within classrooms, schools, communities, and cultures (Jacobson et al., 2019). Such complexity inherently requires a multipronged methodological approach. Numerous scholars (Houchins et al., 2022; Klingner & Boardman, 2011; Nastasi & Hitchcock, 2016; Newman & Houchins, 2018) contend that wider adoption of MMR can contribute importantly to expanding the special education knowledge base in general, and more specifically to intervention research in the field of EBD. Mixed methods research has the capacity to contribute to a deeper understanding of a comprehensive conceptual intervention framework for students with EBD (Anderson, 2018; Quinn & McDougal, 1998) by providing more nuance understandings of the multiple contextual variations in which interventions are implemented. Thus, to make the best possible choices for interventions and equally important, to provide useful information to policymakers and practitioners, this special issue describes MMR as a pathway for scholars to tell better research stories (see, e.g., McLaughlin et al., 2016). All research tells a story. Qualitative research and quantitative research uniquely tell stories from different points of view using distinctive styles, points of view, literary devices, and types of data. Each use literature (e.g., previously written stories) to describe what is known and unknown, which in turn sets the stage for the research questions that describe issues or research problems addressed. Study participants are characters in those stories, while background and setting provide the context for the research story. The plot thickens as the methodology describes the procedures and analyses that aim to resolve the issue by examining the research questions through data. Finally, the 1159015 BHDXXX10.1177/01987429231159015Behavioral DisordersAnderson research-article2023