Charles Teddlie

Mixed Methods Sampling A Typology With Examples

This article presents a discussion of mixed methods (MM) sampling techniques. MM sampling involves combining well-established qualitative and quantitative techniques in creative ways to answer research questions posed by MM research designs. Several issues germane to MM sampling are presented including the differences between probability and purposive sampling and the probability-mixed-purposive sampling continuum. Four MM sampling prototypes are introduced: basic MM sampling strategies, sequential MM sampling, concurrent MM sampling, and multilevel MM sampling. Examples of each of these techniques are given as illustrations of how researchers actually generate MM samples. Finally, eight guidelines for MM sampling are presented.

Effective versus Ineffective Schools: Observable Differences in the Classroom

Until recently, the areas of school effectiveness and teacher effectiveness were examined separately. The study described in this article investigated differences at the classroom level in effective and ineffective schools. Teachers in more effective schools scored consistently higher on all identified dimensions of effective teaching. Field notes from observations in one matched pair of schools suggested possible school-level factors contributing to these classroom differences. The authors suggest that an astute, highly visible administrator and clear academic focus facilitate effective teaching, but they recognize that there may also be a reciprocal increase in school-effectiveness variables (such as quality of leadership and academic mission) resulting from the cultivation or appointment of effective teachers.

A Continuation of the Paradigm Wars? Prevalence Rates of Methodological Approaches Across the Social/Behavioral Sciences

A new line of research has emerged that examines the prevalence rates of mixed methods within disciplines in the social/behavioral sciences. Research presented in this article is unique in that it examines prevalence rates across multiple disciplines using an established cross-disciplinary classification scheme. Results indicate that there are significant differences in the methods employed (quantitative, mixed, qualitative) in pure (psychology, sociology) as opposed to applied (education, nursing) disciplines. The prevalence rate for mixed methods research is higher in applied (16%) compared with pure disciplines (6%). Quantitative methods and the underlying postpositivistic paradigm are prevalent in articles from ‘‘elite’’ journals from pure disciplines, especially psychology. Methodological issues are discussed, including the importance of the sampling procedures employed in prevalence rates studies.

Educational effectiveness research (EER): a state-of-the-art review

Research and scholarship into educational effectiveness research (EER) is comprehensively reviewed from the UK, The Netherlands, the US, Cyprus, Belgium, Sweden, France, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and other societies, dating from the field’s origins in the 1970s. Issues include its history, methodological and theoretical advances, scientific properties of school effects, processes at school and classroom level behind these effects, the somewhat limited translation of findings into policy and practice across the world, and future directions for research and practice in EER and for all of the discipline more generally. Future research needs are argued to be a further concentration upon teaching/teachers, more longitudinal studies, more work on possible context specificity, exploration of the cross-level transactions between schools and their teachers/classrooms, the adoption of “efficiency” as well as “effectiveness” as outcome measures, and a renewed focus upon the education of the disadvantaged, the original focus of our discipline when it began.

World Class Schools. International Perspectives on School Effectiveness

Section One - World Class Schools: The International School Effectiveness Research Project (ISERP) Background, Design and Quatitative Findings 1. The Intellectual and Policy Context 2. The Methodological Strategy of ISERP 3. The Quantitative Data Section Two - World Class Schools: The Case Studies of More Effective and Less Effective Schools in Different Countries North America 4. The United States 5. Canada The Pacific Rim/Australia 6. Taiwan 7. Australia 8. Hong Kong Europe 9. The Netherlands 10. Norway 11. The Republic of Ireland 12. United Kingdom Section Three - Conclusions: Creating World Class Schools 13. Comparisons Across Country Case Studies 14. Creating World Class Schools: What Have We Learned?

A new model of school culture: a response to a call for conceptual clarity 1

Van Houtte (2005) called for clarification of the terms school culture and school climate and the role of each in school effectiveness research. This article presents a theoretical framework for school culture that asserts that it is a context-specific branch of organizational culture comprised of 4 dimensions and 3 levels. This conceptualization presents school climate as the second level of school culture. The article explains the qualitative analytical process that led to the development and verification of the Comprehensive Model of School Culture. The concept of culture presented here is contrasted with statements about school culture made by Van Houtte. Implications for research and further theoretical development are discussed at the end of the article.

Teacher Evaluation, Teacher Effectiveness and School Effectiveness: Perspectives from the USA

This article provides historical overviews of the conceptual and research and development focus of teacher evaluation, teacher effectiveness and school effectiveness research in the USA. Pertinent literature is cited and arguments are made that these lines of inquiry have coexisted for nearly four without adequate integration. With the fourth stage of school effectiveness research in process, there is a recognition that within school context variables, particularly teacher effectiveness, have important effects on school improvement and school outcomes. Similarly, there is the recognition that findings from school effectiveness research have relevance for studies of teacher effectiveness and ongoing developments in teacher evaluation. Examples of: (a) new generation, learner-centered teacher evaluation systems in the USA that are informed by teacher and school effectiveness research; and (b) the fourth stage of school effectiveness research are described. It is proposed that these lines of research should be merged as completely as possible.

Putting the Human Back in ‘‘Human Research Methodology’’: The Researcher in Mixed Methods Research

When we were asked to write an editorial for Journal of Mixed Methods Research, the request came as an invitation to share some of our ‘‘insights’’ about mixed methodology and its trajectory, based on our experiences with the second edition of the Handbook of Mixed Methods in the Social and Behavioral Sciences (hereafter referred to as the Handbook; Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2010). In this editorial, we share with our current readers some of the personal reflections, intellectual challenges, and professional struggles that we experienced during what we have called ‘‘the journey.’’ It is hoped that these reflections will summarize and expand on the comments we made in the Preface and Epilogue of the Handbook. We chose the title for this editorial for at least two reasons. One is that we would like to share our own reflections as human researchers, hoping to demonstrate that we have evolved from technocrats to methodologists. Second, we hope to convey our belief in the fact that human researchers are, more than anything else, human themselves. As such, they enjoy the capabilities of human problem solvers, while trying to identify and reduce the perils and pitfalls that are at times evident in our day-to-day problem solving. We will suggest that mixed methods capitalize on these capabilities, while also increasing the potential for credible and trustworthy conclusions.

Common "Core" Characteristics of Mixed Methods Research: A Review of Critical Issues and Call for Greater Convergence

A controversy in the mixed methods community concerns the existence of core characteristics of the field. The authors believe that contemporary characteristics exist, which will evolve as advances in the research field emerge. The authors discuss four characteristics and issues related to them. Methodological eclecticism describes mixed methodologists as connoisseurs of methods who expertly employ qualitative/quantitative techniques in their toolbox. Pedagogical and practical issues are considered in terms of how mixed methodologists are trained to conduct research. The second characteristic, paradigm pluralism, rejects the “incompatibility thesis” that had linked theoretical with methodological traditions. The authors contend that more than one paradigm can underlie mixed methods and discuss this further. The section on an integrative, cyclical approach to research discusses the contexts of justification and discovery and their interrelationship. The final characteristic is a set of research designs and analytical processes that were developed by mixed methodologists and distinguish it from other traditions.

Reflections on the Critics, and Beyond Them

It is argued that school effectiveness research has made three considerable contributions: (1)The setting up of a field which exhibits the characteristics of mature normal science; (2) The generation of a considerable volume of research findings on numerous important topics; (3) The combatting of societal and professional pessimism concerning the prospects of educational advance. It is argued that the recent criticisms by those such as Thrupp, Slee and Weiner are misplaced, and that the field is reflexively critiquing itself to a high degree. It is concluded that school effectiveness researchers are likely to generate more purposive social and educational change than their critics.