Don’t be afraid to eat the whole whale! Using mixed methods to enhance what we learn in leadership research and assessment

Authors

Lindsay J. Hastings, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2022

Citation

New Dir Stud Lead. 2022;2022:105–114.

DOI: 10.1002/yd.20524

Comments

© 2022 The Authors. New Directions for Student Leadership published byWiley Periodicals LLC.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to identify proper uses for mixed methods in leadership research and assessment. This article will highlight research and assessment questions that are best served by mixed methods and will offer practitioner-friendly guides and examples for integrating quantitative and qualitative data to help eat the whole whale “one bite at a time.” Sound decision-making in the design, execution, and presentation of mixed methods studies and outcomes assessments not only produces better outputs, but greatly increases the likelihood of (a) publication in reputable journals, (b) sound program evaluation decisions, and (c) public consumption of study or assessment results.