An Introduction to Fully Integrated Mixed Methods Research

"Author Elizabeth G. Creamer provides an accessible, user-friendly text for graduate students and those new to the field of mixed methods. It aims to move the field to using fully integrated designs, and emphasizes the importance of the yield, particularly the meta-inferences, of mixed methods studies.  Case examples from a variety of fields bring these concepts to life throughout the text." -- Leanne M. Kallemeyn

"Finally―a text that explains mixed methods research in a thorough yet readable format, one that is full of excellent examples and helpful tables, and that presents a perspective that is simultaneously detailed and broad in scope." -- Laura J. Meyer

"The text is comprehensive and well written. It provides a strong background and overview of mixed methods, and educates students on how to be consumers of mixed methods studies." -- Tina L. Freiburger

Methodological choices vary according to epistemology, discipline, and motivation, making the ′sell for a particular methodology quite difficult′ (Cousin, 2009, p. 5). By weaving her argument for mixed methods across numerous research contexts, motivations, and disciplines, Creamer’s work bypasses these challenges and asserts itself as a provocative guide for a wide range of researchers. Creamer’s ability to make mixed methods accessible for readers― regardless of their discipline―is a vital contribution to mixed methods literature. -- Cherie D. Edwards, David Reeping, Ashley Taylor, and Alison Bowers

Elizabeth G. Creamer is professor of educational research in the School of Education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University where she has balanced administrative and faculty roles since 1980. Beginning her career as a high school reading and English teacher, once at Virginia Tech she initially moved into teaching course at the undergraduate level, including nearly ten years in the Women’s Studies Program where she taught courses in feminist research methods in the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies. An inclination to interdisciplinary thinking is what led her to teach her first mixed methods research course in the late 1990s. A person with broad ranging interests, including about writers and the writing process, Creamer has maintained a long-standing research agenda that centered on women’s interest and success in fields in engineering and information technology. Actively engaged in a series of inter-related research projects funded by the National Science Foundation, she is co-author of a 2007 volume, Reconfiguring the Firewall: Recruiting Women to IT Across Cultures and Continents and in 2010, Development and Assessment of Self-Authorship: Exploring the Concept Across Cultures. Creamer teaches both an introductory, on-line and an advanced mixed methods research design course at the graduate level, as well as an advanced qualitative research methods course with an emphasis on constructivist grounded theory. Her interest in mixed methods studies with a robust qualitative component is evident in her selection of exemplary publications for this textbook.