Discussion: Advantages of Mixed Research Methods

Advantages of Mixed Research Method
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Advantages of Mixed Research Methods
There are two main methods of data collection during research, namely, qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. Qualitative researchers collect qualitative data, while quantitative researchers collect quantitative data. The two research methods have been combined to form a mixed research method that involves both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques. This discussion focuses on the advantages of using mixed-method in a study to increase validity and reliability.
There are various advantages of using the mixed method in research. The first advantage is that it brings a comparison between qualitative and quantitative data. The strength of both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques adds to each other coming up with a piece of strong evidence. The limitation of each method is substituted with strength from the other technique. The mixed-method can be used to bring out contradictions between the two research methods and how to avoid them hence increasing its reliability (Ngulube, 2020).
The mixed-method provides the strengths that offset the weaknesses of the two methods. Quantitative data offers less understanding of the behavior of the people, something that qualitative data does, and will easily make up for. To add on, qualitative data provides data deficient since it might be biased according to the researcher's interpretation and the challenge of generalizing data of a large group. Quantitative data doesn't have such difficulties; therefore, when both techniques are used, the strength for each other covers for their weaknesses. This makes mixed-method to be more reliable.
Mixed method data gives data from the participants' point of view. The two methods, when combined, provides more interaction time with the participants. This is important as there is ...