Seeking the Third Methodology: One Doctoral Student’s Experience

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Learning and Using Mixed Methods Research to Explore Intersections of Identity and Experience (Table 2)

Abstract

This methodological discussion paper presents the experience of one doctoral student who wished to conduct mixed methods research but attended a university that did not offer mixed methods courses. The paper develops context about the current situation of mixed methods pedagogy in U.S. graduate programs and then moves into an autoethnography that details the student’s work to learn mixed methods by herself, her dialogue with her doctoral committee, and her successful defense of her mixed methods research proposal. The paper includes interviews with the student’s committee members and with professors she encountered at AERA who teach mixed methods research courses. The paper will add to the knowledge about the state of mixed methods research at the graduate student level.

Author

• Sarah Hahn Campbell, University of Northern Colorado