Methodological matters for Singaporean research

Mixed method research is a growing area of methodological choice for many academics and researchers from across a variety of discipline areas. The Journal of Mixed Methods (2006), in its call for papers defines mixed methods as ‘research in which the investigator collects, analyses, mixes, and draws inferences from both quantitative and qualitative data in a single study or a program of inquiry’. The fields of applied social science and evaluation are among those which have shown the greatest popularity and uptake of mixed methods research designs. Relatively speaking there is less dialogue and literature on the use of mixed methods in applied business as there exists in other discipline areas where mixed methods has witnessed higher levels of acceptance such as the social sciences, health and education. Business disciplines have traditionally been undertaken within the quantitative paradigm, with some exceptions. It has only been very recently that mixed methods has been introduced and explicitly utilised within applied business research (Cameron 2008; Hurmerinta-Peltomaki & Nummela 2006; Molina-Azorin 2007). This chapter provides a brief overview of the rise of mixed methods research, its usage in business and management fields, a discussion on the emergence of mixed methods research designs and presents empirical evidence of mixed methods usage in DBA theses at Southern Cross University (SCU). This will be followed by a discussion of the twelve completed DBA theses from Singapore.