A study of the use of mixed methods in management and organisational research journals : justification and design

The aim of the study being reported in this paper is to determine the visibility of mixed methods as a methodological movement within management and organisational research publications. The paper reports on a set of searches conducted on three management and organisational research methods journals to ascertain whether mixed methods as a methodology is being discussed and mixed methods empirical studies are being reported within these publications. The research has found that mixed methods is beginning to be published and discussed in the chosen journals and this appearance, particularly since 2000 aligns with what Creswell and Plano Clark (2007) refer to as the Advocacy period of the mixed methods movement (a period preceded by the Paradigm debate and Procedural development periods).