Improving Mixed-methods Research in Nursing

The current featured article is titled “Mixed-Methods Research in the Discipline of Nursing” by Cheryl Tatano Beck, DNSc, CNM, FAAN and Lisa Harrison, MSN, PMHNP. We invite you to download this article while it is featured and return here to share your comments, questions and ideas for discussion.  Dr. Beck shared this background about her experiences with mixed methods:

This article was the culmination of a years’ worth of work that Lisa Harrison and I did. Lisa is a PhD student in

Cheryl Beck

nursing at the University of Connecticut. She was assigned to me as a graduate assistant and for her assistance ship that year. Lisa worked with me on this review of mixed methods research in the discipline of nursing. Two years ago I presented one of my mixed methods studies in Boston at the Mixed Methods International Research Association’s inaugural research conference. At that conference there

were reports of the state of the science of mixed methods research in some disciplines but none focused on nursing. It was at that conference that I got the idea to conduct this focused review of mixed methods research in the discipline of nursing.

I began my interest in mixed methods research in earnest when about 6 years ago faculty at the University of Connecticut’s School of Nursing voted to add a mixed methods research design course to our core PhD curriculum. I was asked to teach this inaugural course and the rest is history. I have been teaching it every year since then. I have included in this blog a photo of my most recent mixed methods research class (spring 2016) when we

Lisa Harrison

all went out for breakfast to celebrate the last day of class. Our PhD students are getting excited about the possibilities of mixed methods research. This past year we had 2 PhD students graduate who had conducted mixed methods dissertations.

I have conducted 4 mixed methods studies to date. Two have focused on secondary traumatic stress. One of these studies was with labor and delivery nurses and the other study was with certified nurse-midwives. Currently I have 2 other mixed methods studies in press. Both studies examined vicarious posttraumatic growth in obstetrical clinicians due to the struggles with caring for women during traumatic births.

We hope that our article published here in ANS will spark interest in students and faculty to conduct mixed methods research studies. This type of research can be the best of both worlds.

Front L toR: Lisa Sundean, Semin Park (PhD student in Business), and Wanli Xu. Back L to R: Cheryl Beck, Lucinda Canty, Lisa Nemchek, Nayomi Dawes.