Learning and Leading
Integrating Mixed Methods in a Collaborative Approach to Educational Evaluation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.71482Keywords:
collaboration, education, mental health, mixed methodsAbstract
This practice note describes the benefits of integrating mixed methods in a collaborative approach to evaluation with school districts and community partners in southwestern Ontario. We discuss the ways in which the integration of qualitative and quantitative data generated a multi-faceted perspective about a new mental health professional role as a complex educational phenomenon. The insights related to recognizing the role of context, supporting the use of mixed methods with stakeholders, and responding to evolving needs related to youth mental health and well-being in schools highlight the practical value of using mixed methods in a collaborative approach to evaluation.
References
Alameda-Lawson, T., Lawson, M. A., & Lawson, H. A. (2010). Social workers’ roles in facilitating the collective involvement of low-income, culturally diverse parents in an elementary school. Children & Schools, 32(3), 172 – 182. https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/32.3.172
Berzin, S. C., O’Brien, K. H. M., Frey, A., Kelly, M., Alvarez, M. S., & Shafer, G. L. (2011). Meeting the social and behavioral health needs of students: Rethinking the relationship between teachers and school social workers. Journal of School Health, 81(8), 493 – 501. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011.00619.x. Medline:21740435
Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). (2020). Wait times for youth mental health services in Ontario at all-time high. https://ontario.cmha.ca/news/wait-times-foryouth-mental-health-services-in-ontario-at-all-time-high/
Cousins, J. B., Whitmore, E., & Shulha, L. (2014). Let there be light: Response to Fetter-man et al. 2014 . The American Journal of Evaluation, 35(1), 149 – 153. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214013510200
Creswell, J., & Plano Clark, V. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3rd ed.). Sage.
DeJonckheere, M., Lindquist-Grantz, R., Toraman, S., Haddad, K., & Vaughn, L. M. (2019). Intersection of mixed methods and community-based participatory research: A methodological review. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 13(4), 481 – 502. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689818778469
Fullan, M. (2001). The new meaning of educational change (3rd ed.). Teachers College Press.
Hopson, L., & Lawson, H. (2011). Social workers’ leadership for positive school climates via data-informed planning and decision making. Children & Schools, 33(2), 106 – 118. https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/33.2.106
Kendrick, T. (2015). Identifying and managing project risk: Essential tools for failure-proofing your project. AMACOM.
Mental Health Commission of Canada. (2021). MHCC strategic plan 2021 - 2031. https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/mhcc-strategic-plan-2021-2031
Mertens, D. M. (2005). Research and evaluation in education and psychology: Integrating diversity with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods (2nd ed.). Sage.
Mertens, D. M. (2018). Mixed methods design in evaluation. Sage.
Mertens, D. M., & Tarsilla, M. (2015). Mixed methods evaluation. In S. Nagy Hesse-Biber & R. B. Johnson (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of multimethod and mixed methods research inquiry, Part 3 , Chapter 4. Oxford University Press.
Patton, M. Q. (2011). Essentials of utilization-focused evaluation. Sage.
Poth, C. N. (2018). Innovation in mixed methods research: A practical guide to integrative thinking with complexity. Sage.
Poth, C. N. (2019). Realizing the integrative capacity of educational mixed methods research teams: Using a complexity-sensitive strategy to boost innovation. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 42(3), 252 – 266. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727x.2019.1590813
Raimondo, E., Bamberger, M., & Vaessen, J. (2016). Introduction. In M. Bamberger, J. Vaessen, & E. Raimondo (Eds.), Dealing with complexity in development education (pp. xxxv – xliv). Sage.
Roy, S., & Searle, M. (2020). Scope creep and purposeful pivots in developmental evaluation. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 35(1), 92 – 103. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.56898
School Mental Health Ontario. (n.d.). Our approach. https://smho-smso.ca/about-us/our-approach/
Shulha, L. M., Whitmore, E., Cousins, J. B., Gilbert, N., & al Hudib, H. (2016). Introducing evidence-based principles to guide collaborative approaches to evaluation: Results of an empirical process. American Journal of Evaluation, 37(2), 193 – 215 . https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214015615230
Statistics Canada. (2018). Leading causes of death, total population, by age group. Table 1310-0394-01. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310039401
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Michelle Searle, Matt Drabenstott, Lori Kirkpatrick, Rachael Smyth, Chantal Labonte
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors contributing to The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 (CC-BY-NC) license. This licence allows this work to be copied, distributed, remixed, transformed, and built upon for any purpose provided that appropriate attribution is given, a link is provided to the license, and changes made were indicated.
Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal right of first publication.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
