Using the Potencies of a Mixed-Methods Approach to Strengthen Policy Relevancy and Encourage Community Reconnection

• In Event: Some Methodological Innovations for the Automated Analysis of Classroom Discourse

Abstract

As the AERA theme indicates, research has long been “disconnected from the educational communities about whom we write” (Walker, Croft, & Purdy, 2019). The purpose of this paper is to show how using the potencies of mixed methods research (MMR) for policy research and evaluation not only strengthens relevancy, but also serves as a viable means to reconnect researchers and community members in substantive ways. Using a comprehensive literature review on MMR designs and typologies, along with examples from recent educational policy studies, we illustrate how programs of research, especially those with a transformative design, can productively engage multiple research methodologies, philosophies, and social theories to better meet the needs of complex communities (Weaver-Hightower, 2014).

Authors

• Kimberly Kappler Hewitt, University of North Carolina - Greensboro

• Katherine Cumings Mansfield, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro