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This article provides researchers with knowledge of how to design a high quality mixed methods research study. To design a mixed study, researchers must understand and carefully consider each of the dimensions of mixed methods design, and always keep an eye on the issue of validity. We explain the seven major design dimensions: purpose, theoretical drive, timing (simultaneity and dependency), point of integration, typological versus interactive design approaches, planned versus emergent design, and design complexity. There also are multiple secondary dimensions that need to be considered during the design process. We explain ten secondary dimensions of design to be considered for each research study. We also provide two case studies showing how the mixed designs were constructed.

The search for meaningful work has been of interest to researchers from a variety of disciplines for decades and seems to have grown even more recently. Much of the literature assumes that employees share a sense of what is meaningful in work and there isn't much attention given to how and why meanings might differ (Rosso et al. in Res Organ Behav 30:91-127, 2010). Researchers have not only called for more research studying demographic differences in definitions of meaning (e.g., Michaelson et al. in J Bus Ethics 121(1):77-90, 2014), but also more research utilizing mixed methods to study psychological concepts like meaningful work (e.g., Eid and Diener, in Eid, Diener (eds) Handbook of multimethod measurement in psychology, American Psychological Association, Washington, 2006). This study specifically examines differences across generational cohorts on their prioritization of sources of meaningful work through qualitative, in-depth interviews followed by a more generalizable, quantitative survey. Findings from the qualitative study show that generational cohorts define the meaning in their jobs differently, and they hold negative perceptions about the lack of desire for meaning in each of the other cohorts. Study 2 maps generational cohorts on the comprehensive model of meaningful work designed by Lips-Wiersma and Morris (J Bus Ethics 88(3):491-511, 2009) to reveal that although there are some differences in prioritization of sources of meaningful work, all generational cohorts share similar desire to \"develop and become themselves\" when asked about their definitions of meaningful work. Implications and future research are discussed.

In research and practice to promote health literacy, people with chronic illnesses represent an important target group. They are confronted with complex demands during the course of their illness. And, they utilize healthcare services more frequently. Patients are often dependent on the support of healthcare professionals. Population-based studies in Germany conducted that the majority of people find it most difficult to assess health information. The studies emphasize the enhancement of professional‘s health literacy, e. g. in nursing profession, as a prerequisite for improving capabilities in the population. In order to achieve better access and a needs-based care for people with chronic illnesses, a project in northern Germany has developed and offered a care-led concept.

Scholars have criticized effectuation research for being insufficiently embedded in a nomological network of practically relevant antecedents. To address this research gap, the current study uses a mixed-methods design. First, a qualitative study with 20 venturing experts (entrepreneurs and investors) validates various effectuation logics and uncovers the following four antecedents of effectuation and causation: founders’ perceived uncertainty, entrepreneurial experience, management experience, and investor influence. Second, a large-scale quantitative study of founders in online, software, and high-tech start-ups (n = 435) provides statistical support for the identified antecedents, using structural equation modeling and multigroup comparisons over early and later venture stages. The study confirms the multifaceted nature of effectuation; experimentation is the only effectual logic that reflects influences of all the determinants. Founders’ prior experiences affect experimentation and causation in the early venture stage, but not during the later stages. Investor influence displays the broadest array of effects on the decision logics, offering both theoretical embeddedness for effectuation and a new, practically relevant driver.

The process of mixed methods data analysis has long been understudied and needs clear guidance for researchers. This review article honors Michael D. Fetters' pioneering work on mixed methods data analysis, building on his concepts of integration, joint displays, and metainferences. This review summarizes existing mixed methods data analysis discussions and proposes advanced steps for the analysis process. Our approach involves identifying a research problem, collecting diverse data, selecting a mixed methods design, integrating the data within the design, using joint displays for analysis, and drawing metainferences. We illustrate our methods with a Japanese empirical research study from family medicine. This article contributes to the field of mixed methods research by detailing a practical process approach to mixed methods analysis combining recent procedures in the field of mixed methods research. This review article honors Michael D. Fetters' pioneering work on mixed methods data analysis, building on his concepts of integration, joint displays, and metainferences. This review summarizes existing mixed methods data analysis discussions and proposes advanced steps for the analysis process. Our approach involves identifying a research problem, collecting diverse data, selecting a mixed methods design, integrating the data within the design, using joint displays for analysis, and drawing metainferences.

While it is well documented that grandchildren benefit from strong, positive relationships with grandparents, less is known about the influence of these relationships as individuals establish their lives in early adulthood. Further, how this impact varies based on grandparent type (i.e., whether grandparents take on a \"traditional\" non-caregiving or \"custodial\" caregiving role) has not been investigated, despite the growing number of youth raised, at least in part, by their grandparents. Using an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, this study explores the influence of grandparent type during childhood on life satisfaction, perceived relationship quality, and life building in early adulthood. Descriptive and comparative analyses of survey data captured in the quantitative strand (  = 94) informed the subsample that completed semi-structured interviews in the emphasized qualitative strand (  = 9). The integrated findings revealed that past and present grandparent relationships remain salient in early adulthood, though the context and substance of these relationships is often nuanced with shifts over time and across individuals. Despite the importance of context, we failed to observe significant differences in life satisfaction or perceived relationship quality by grandparent type. Taken together, the findings suggest the substance of the relationship, more so than the structure, may be impactful for individuals building their life and reflecting on their values in early adulthood. In addition to elucidating areas for continued exploration, this work highlights the need for researchers and practitioners to consider variation in family structure when designing research and developing supports to reinforce positive, mutually beneficial grandparent-grandchild relationships.

The incidence of infertility in the world is gradually increasing, and assisted reproductive treatment is one of the main methods for infertility treatment worldwide. Infertile women undergoing assisted reproductive treatment are likely to have a negative psychological state. However, deficits in the existing knowledge about women’s negative psychological conditions greatly limit the implementation and effectiveness of psychological interventions. The aim of this study was to identify the specific risk factors for a negative psychological state in infertile women undergoing assisted reproductive treatment. A mixed-methods design that combined quantitative survey and qualitative interview was adopted in this study. In the quantitative study, the DASS-21 questionnaire was administered on 437 infertile women undergoing assisted reproductive treatment to evaluate the prevalence of negative psychological symptoms. Descriptive statistics were conducted on the participants’ demographic information and clinical data, and multiple linear regression analysis was performed on the quantitative data to determine the risk factors for negative psychological states. In the qualitative study, semistructured interviews were conducted with 14 women who reported negative psychological symptoms in the quantitative survey. Thematic analysis was employed for qualitative data. The results of quantitative and qualitative study were comprehensively analyzed and classified. The results of the quantitative survey suggested a high prevalence of anxiety (24.3%), depression (10.8%) and stress (8.7%). Univariate analysis revealed that a negative psychological state in infertile women is significantly related to occupation type, household income, infertility factors, duration of infertility treatment, and the number of previous assisted reproductive treatment cycles ( P  < 0.05). Multivariate linear regression analysis indicated that annual per capita household income was the primary factor influencing depression scores ( P < 0.05), the duration of infertility treatment and occupation type were the primary factors influencing anxiety scores ( P < 0.05), unexplained infertility was the primary factor influencing stress scores ( P < 0.05). Subsequent qualitative research provided a more detailed exploration of the characteristics and sources of negative psychological states of infertile women, which yielded five key themes: characteristics of a negative psychological state, medical aspects, family issues, conflicts with normal life, and social context influences. The prevalence of a negative psychological state is high among infertile Chinese women undergoing assisted reproductive treatment. The results of mixed-methods study reveal that medical factors associated with assisted reproductive treatment, insufficient family emotional support, conflicts between work and treatment, and financial burdens are the main causes of negative psychological states. Future research needs to explore more effective psychological intervention methods to improve the psychological state of infertile women.

In most established democracies the turnout gap along class lines has increased substantially since the 1980s. Political participation has become a question of resources: income, property, formal education, secure employment and overall social status determine citizens’ engagement in political decision-making. Using a mixed methods approach, our case-study shows that this also applies to Vienna – an overall rich city with a long tradition of social reform policies, often credited with the highest quality of life in the world. Although Vienna still has a relatively high turnout by international standards, political participation is very unevenly distributed once socio-economic resources are taken into account. Thereby and throughout life, class shapes people’s experiences with and as part of democracy. These experiences in turn have long-term effects on their trust in the political system and on their political self-efficacy. Our findings first and foremost contribute to the ongoing debate on democracy’s social imbalance and show that its consequences already apply on the regional level. The study additionally highlights the usefulness of mixed methods approaches when we aim at a better understanding of the class-based turnout gap.

Pre-service teachers rarely engage in evidence-informed reasoning when they are confronted with problematic classroom situations. We argue that interventions that target pre-service teachers’ acquisition of evidence-informed reasoning skills should be informed by research that compares pre-service teachers’, in-service teachers’, and educational researchers’ evidence-informed reasoning. We asked N = 55 pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and educational researchers to think aloud about a written classroom scenario and complete a retrospective interview on their evidence-informed reasoning. Results indicate that educational researchers describe problematic events more often than pre- and in-service teachers but do not seem to differ on a number of other reasoning activities. However, educational researchers more often refer to academic knowledge than preand in-service teachers. Pre- and in-service teachers do not seem to differ from each other, neither with respect to their reasoning activities nor concerning their use of academic knowledge. Additional qualitative analyses illustrate these findings. (DIPF/Orig.) Lehramtsstudierende gehen selten evidenzorientiert vor, wenn sie mit problematischen Unterrichtssituationen konfrontiert sind. Wir argumentieren, dass Interventionen, die auf eine Förderung evidenzorientierter Denkfertigkeiten bei Lehramtsstudierenden abzielen, auf Ergebnissen vergleichender Forschung zu den Denkprozessen von Lehramtsstudierenden, Lehrkräften und Bildungswissenschaftler:innen basieren sollten. Wir baten N = 55 Lehramtsstudierende, Lehrkräfte und Bildungswissenschaftler*innen, über ein schriftliches Unterrichtsszenario laut nachzudenken und an einem retrospektiven Interview zur Rekonstruktion ihrer evidenzorientierten Denkprozesse teilzunehmen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Bildungswissenschaftler:innen Situationen häufiger als Lehramtsstudierende und Lehrkräfte beschreiben, sich von diesen aber nicht in anderen evidenzorientierten Denkprozessen unterscheiden. Jedoch beziehen sich Bildungswissenschaftler:innen in ihren Analysen häufiger auf bildungswissenschaftliches Wissen als Lehramtsstudierende und Lehrkräfte. Lehramtsstudierende und Lehrkräfte unterscheiden sich hinsichtlich ihrer Denkaktivitäten und Verwendung bildungswissenschaftlichen Wissens nicht voneinander. Die Ergebnisse werden durch weiterführende qualitative Analysen illustriert. (DIPF/Orig.)

As basic infrastructure of a school, digital learning management systems (LMS) have been used in universities and schools since around the turn of the millennium. However, their usage in schools has rapidly increased in the course of the COVID-19-pandemic, opening the desideratum on the role that these platforms can play in school and classroom development. This study aims at investigating the role of LMS for school and classroom development in information and communication technologies (ICT)-related school contexts from the perspective of German school teachers. The study follows a mixed-methods approach consisting of an exploratory interview study (study 1) and a questionnaire-based survey (study 2). For the qualitative approach we analyzed three rounds of interviews with Berlin teachers (N = 44), using the results to design a questionnaire for the quantitative study (N = 223) on LMS’ potentials and challenges. While the qualitative data suggest a broad variety of possible means for school and classroom development, the preliminary quantitative results do not confirm these findings. Still, they point at teachers using LMS for individual and cooperative development among students and teachers and a possible starting point for digital transformation through LMS, while keeping a critical perspective on the topic. (DIPF/Orig.) Digitale Lernmanagementsysteme (LMS) werden etwa seit der Jahrtausendwende an Universitäten und Schulen eingesetzt und gelten als grundlegende technische Infrastruktur. Im Zuge der COVID-19-Pandemie hat die Nutzung von LMS an Schulen rasant zugenommen, was die Frage aufwirft, welche Rolle diese Plattformen für die Schul- und Unterrichtsentwicklung spielen können. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es daher, diese Frage im Kontext der informationstechnologisch geprägten Schul- und Unterrichtsentwicklung auf Basis von Lehrkräfteperspektiven zu bearbeiten. Die Studie folgt einem Mixed-Methods-Ansatz, bestehend aus einer explorativen Interviewstudie (Studie 1) und einer quantitativen Befragung (Studie 2). Für den qualitativen Ansatz haben wir drei Interviewrunden mit Berliner Lehrkräften (N = 44) ausgewertet und die Ergebnisse zur Entwicklung eines Fragebogens für die quantitative Studie genutzt. Damit wurden Lehrkräfte in Deutschland (N = 223) zu Potenzialen und Herausforderungen von LMS befragt. Während die qualitativen Daten auf vielfältige Maßnahmen zur Schul- und Unterrichtsentwicklung verweisen, bestätigen die vorläufigen quantitativen Ergebnisse diese Erkenntnisse nicht. Sie weisen jedoch darauf hin, dass Lehrkräfte LMS zur individuellen und kooperativen Entwicklung von Schüler*innen und Lehrkräften nutzen und sie – unter Beibehaltung einer kritischen Perspektive – als einen möglichen Ausgangspunkt für schulische digitale Transformation betrachten. (DIPF/Orig.)