An Evaluation of Mixed Methods Studies: A Case Study for Turkey

Abstract

Mixed methods came to light as the third methodological movement besides the quantitative and qualitative methods. It has been significantly popular for researchers, particularly in the last twenty years. However, its philosophy and applicability have been the major site of discussions. Motivated by these debates, the purpose of this thesis is to evaluate mixed methods studies in Turkey. How mixed methods is perceived and applied to be the guiding research question, 30 master’s degree theses of 2017 in the fields of education and sociology from Turkish universities are examined with content analysis. Council of Higher Education Thesis Center Database is the medium for reaching the theses and several keywords are used to screen the mixed methods studies. This thesis is designed according to the qualitative methodology and it holds the interpretive approach. In addition, content analysis is employed with seven categories for examining the theses. The rationale, definition and naming, model and design, sampling, data collection/generation, data analysis and ethics are the categories for the evaluation. This study argues that the theses, mostly, can be categorized as extended quantitative inquiries in which the researchers do not have a methodological approach for the qualitative side, rather the qualitative techniques serve for extension of the quantitative research. Furthermore, it is asserted that the theses reflect the messiness of mixed methods with the terminological unclarity, diversity and issues related to the rigor