IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v15y2025i2p21582440251335171.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Prevalence and Quality of Mixed Methods Research in Educational Subdisciplines: A Systematic Review

Author

Listed:
  • Bogusia Gierus
  • Ting Du
  • Aloysius N. Maduforo
  • Brian Gilbert
  • Kim Koh

Abstract

This study examines the prevalence and quality of mixed methods research (MMR) in educational journals, highlighting its growing acceptance yet emphasizing the need for enhanced methodological rigor. Although MMR has become popular across education sub-disciplines, its specific use in educational research is underexplored. This study aims to bridge this gap by investigating MMR prevalence and quality in flagship journals within education sub-disciplines of Leadership, Learning Sciences, Curriculum and Learning, and Adult Learning from 2011 to 2024. A mixed-method systematic review was conducted across nine flagship educational journals. Articles mentioning MMR in the title or abstract were identified, yielding 169 articles, with 132 included after full-text review. Creswell and Plano Clark’s typology classified MMR designs, while the JMMR checklist assessed methodological quality. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA, and thematic analysis was applied to qualitative commentary. MMR prevalence in the selected journals rose from 0.64% in 2011 to 2.97% in 2024. Leadership showed the highest prevalence (2.53%), while Curriculum and Learning had the lowest (1.08%). Explanatory sequential design was the most frequently used. The average alignment with the JMMR checklist was low (7.85 out of 20), with significant differences across subdisciplines ( p  

Suggested Citation

  • Bogusia Gierus & Ting Du & Aloysius N. Maduforo & Brian Gilbert & Kim Koh, 2025. "Prevalence and Quality of Mixed Methods Research in Educational Subdisciplines: A Systematic Review," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(2), pages 21582440251, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:15:y:2025:i:2:p:21582440251335171
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440251335171
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440251335171
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440251335171?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:15:y:2025:i:2:p:21582440251335171. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.