Emerging research designs in doctoral studies

The recent emergence of mixed methods in business and management research has only recently begun to take the notice of researchers and academics. Those who have researched the use of mixed methods in business and management fields have found an increasing utilisation of mixed methods in applied research. This chapter will explore this small but growing section of literature and research which is attempting to gauge the use of mixed methods across a variety of business and management fields. This will be followed by the presentation of research findings into the research designs and methods utilised in DBA theses from the International Centre for Professional Doctorates at Southern Cross University in Australia. The research points to an almost 40% use of mixed methods by DBA candidates (39%). This exceeds the number of purely quantitative theses (32%) and purely qualitative theses (29%). Of all the DBA theses (n=186) examined 51.6% have been Asian based.