Workshop 1:
Advances in MM Training in the Era of Massive Social Change

Language used: English

　Mixed methods research is increasingly being taught to students, postgraduates, and professionals throughout the globe. Training programs include courses, short-term workshops, and intensive long-term training programs. Evidence for various methods of training in mixed methods research is developing in the literature. This workshop synthesizes the developing evidence of best-practices in training and links in the often overlooked concept of skills development (e.g., “know how). In this workshop, we will review tested methods for mixed methods skills development. Methods covered include: assessment for learning using a mixed methods skills self-assessment, problem-based methods using proposal development as a vehicle for learning mixed methods, and mentored experiences to develop skills. Moreover, we will incorporate how those methods have been recently translated for online learning during this period of massive social change.

Timothy C. Guetterman, Ph.D., is an interdisciplinary, applied research methodologist specialized in mixed methods research. His methodological goal is to advance rigorous methods of mixed methods research, particularly strategies for integrating qualitative and quantitative research. Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), he investigates informatics technology to improve health services, communication, and simulation training. Tim is also actively engaged developing research methods capacity through foundation grants and the NIH Mixed Methods Research Training Program for the Health Sciences. He co-authored the sixth edition of Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, with John W. Creswell.

Workshop 2：
Positive deviance: An approach to use MMR for better solutions of social problems

Language used: English & Japanese

Since 1990s, Positive deviance (PD) has been utilized for various social problems, which are complex and usually involve behavioral aspects. PD takes the wholistic approach to capture “micro mechanisms” to somehow solve behavioral and social problems, which might have been missed by the linear way of thinking, the “gold standard” to understand the problem. The basic process of PD has been proposed by Starnins and exactly follows the explanatory sequential MMR design. PD cases (that are positively deviant in the outcome while they are against “odds”) are quantitatively identified and micro mechanisms or behaviors/actions that cause good outcomes are qualitatively detected. PD has been spotlighted in MM researchers and the number of MMR publications that have “PD” in the title is increasing.

In this workshop, I introduce the PD concept and approach and its trend among MMR publications to enhance the idea of tagging MMR with PD to guide the research toward practical social causes.

Yoko Kawamura, PhD, MPH, is Professor of Safety and Health Management at School of Health Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu, Japan. She has earned PhD in Health Education and Promotion at School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham in US. She specializes in health communication, especially communication strategies for social and behavioral changes. In the past 10 years, one of the main approaches has been positive deviance (PD) and utilizing PD to various social issues while working with organizations such as local communities and companies. She is one of the core members who leads PD research in Japan while being part of the PD global network. Dr. Kawamura is the board member of JSMMR.

Workshop 3:
Reassessing Standards of Quality in Mixed Methods Research

Language used: English and Japanese

This presentation will convey six standards that beginning and international researchers might use to assess the quality of their mixed methods studies. It will begin with the assumption that while the field of mixed methods has moved forward with new innovations, at the same time, the methodology has expanded around the world and is in frequent use by beginning researchers. As such, the field needs to better adapt to new researchers and to those coming to mixed methods with English as a second language. Accordingly, this workshop will address the worldwide movement of mixed methods research, and suggest that for new researchers and international scholars, the presentation of mixed methods needs to be simplified. It will then review the current discussions about quality standards in mixed methods, including those advanced by editors of mixed methods journals. It will then convey a small set of six standards, and illustrate these six standards using a recent mixed methods doctoral dissertation project from Japan. Both English and Japanese will be presented on powerpoint slides, and comments in the Zoom chat box will be solicited from participants during the presentation.

John W. Creswell, Ph.D., is a professor of family medicine and senior research scientist at the Michigan Mixed Methods Program at the University of Michigan. He has authored numerous articles and 30 books on mixed methods research, qualitative research, and research design. While at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he held the Clifton Endowed Professor Chair, served as Director of the Mixed Methods Research Office, founded SAGE’s Journal of Mixed Methods Research, and was an adjunct professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan and a consultant to the Veterans Administration health services research center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was a Senior Fulbright Scholar to South Africa in 2008 and to Thailand in 2012. In 2011, he co-led a National Institute of Health working group on the “best practices of mixed methods research in the health sciences,” and in 2013 served as a visiting professor at Harvard’s School of Public Health. In 2014, he was the founding President of the Mixed Methods International Research Association. In 2015, he joined the staff of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan to Co-Direct the Michigan Mixed Methods Program. In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. In 2017, he co-authored the American Psychological Association “standards” on qualitative and mixed methods research. In 2018 his book on “Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design” (with Cheryl Poth) won the Textbook and Academic Author’s 2018 McGuffey Longevity Award in the United States. He currently makes his home in Ashiya, Japan and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Dr. Hirose is a national certified psychologist, and a research associate in the Graduate Department of Psychological Sciences at Kwansei Gakuin University, Hyogo, Japan and an adjunct associate professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the Department of Special Education. As a Hikikomori regional support coordinator, Dr. Hirose provides support services for youth affected by "Hikikomori," a social withdrawal syndrome and their families (2009-2014). Currently, she serves as a community development support coordinator at the ASD (autism spectrum disorders) Support Center (2013 to present). She has developed a family behavioral support program for adolescents with ASD and provides staff training program at the ASD Support Center. She has conducted research to develop a new comprehensive community support model for adolescents with ASD and their families using mixed methods research.

Workshop 4:
Using the Mixed Methods Research Integration Trilogy to Conduct Sophisticated Projects

Lauguage used: English and Japanese

Many researchers find achieving integration in their mixed methods studies to be challenging. The mixed methods integration trilogy provides a model for considering integration in great depth. Participants in this workshop will: 1) distinguish among the three dimensions of the mixed methods integration trilogy, the philosophical, methodological, and methods, and 2) reflect about applying these dimensions in their own research. The workshop content builds upon the work of Jennifer Greene where the paradigm or philosophical dimension represents the perspective or worldview orienting the mixed methods researcher’s approach to integration of qualitative and quantitative strands of mixed methods research inquiry. The methodological dimension reflects integrating two different approaches to inquiry such that qualitative and quantitative procedures are used together to create a mixed methods approach, or a mixed method approach is used with a second methodology, e.g., case study or experimental approach. The methods dimension reflects four sub-dimensions, the research contributor dimension, the strategic dimension, the implementation dimension, and the rhetoric dimension. Workshop participants will apply the integration trilogy to their own projects by completing a novel worksheet. The workshop will be presented in English with Japanese language support and bilingual slides. The question and answer will be held bilingually.

Michael D. Fetters is Professor of Family Medicine and Director of the Mixed Methods Program at the University of Michigan. He received his M.D. from Ohio State University, his M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and his M.A. from Michigan State University. Dr. Fetters’ research focuses on the influence of culture on medical decision making, cancer communication, and health services research. His qualitative and mixed methods research interests focus on methodology, particularly integration and applications of mixed methods research. He serves as Co-editor in Chief, Journal of Mixed Methods Research. He authored the Mixed Methods Research Workbook (Sage, 2020). His co-edited book with Hisako Kakai, The Mixed Methods Research Treasure Hunt is now available (Tomishobo, April 2021).