Persuasive and Innovative: Mixed Methods in Service of Research-Practice Partnerships

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Applying Mixed-Methods Research Design to Inspect Educational Practice and Policy (Table 41)

Abstract

The landscape of educational research is changing, as evidenced by increased collaborative inquiry among research scholars and practitioners. The paper illustrates the role of mixed methods research in addressing pressing problems of practice that undergird educational research-practice partnerships (RPPs). Using evidence from a year-long (and ongoing) RPP between practitioners in a rural mid-Atlantic public school district and researchers at a public university, we make the case for how MM not only serves to answer complex research problems but also serves to persuade and innovate inquiry in RPPs. The study itself is centered on a two year-study (ongoing), an exploratory mixed methods investigation of the impact of middle school mathematics specialists on teaching and learning.

Authors

• Divya Varier, George Mason University

• Courtney Baker, George Mason University

• Johnna Bolyard, West Virginia University

• Deborah Crawford, Frederick County Public Schools

• Naomi Brown, George Mason University