Mixed method designs are well accepted in health care research. With the increasing use of mixed method designs researchers are challenged to devise analytic strategies that incorporate multiple types of data. Prior efforts to delineate analytic strategies for linking qualitative and quantitative data have focused on issues of consistency and the use of one type of data to validate or explain the other. However, relatively little attention has been directed to the use of mixed method approaches for typology development. The aim of this presentation is to describe a mixed method strategy for typology development that combines qualitative themes and quantitative scores. Data come from a purposive sample of 44 parents (22 couples) of children with a genetic condition. Individually, parents completed semi-structured interviews and three structured measures of family functioning (Family APGAR, Feetham Family Functioning Survey, Family Hardiness Index). A thematic analysis of the qualitative data was completed to identify patterns of family management of the genetic condition, and a cluster analysis of the quantitative data was completed to identify patterns of family functioning. Each parent was categorized into a family management style based on the qualitative analysis. For the cluster analysis, scores from the structured measures were used to identify distinct patterns of family functioning. Final typology development, which is in progress, will entail the identification of individual family patterns based on parents’ management style and cluster analysis categorization followed by comparison across families to identify distinct family management-functioning types. Results of the analysis will be discussed in terms of traditional approaches to typology development and the contribution of mixed method analyses to a more sophisticated understanding of family functioning in the context of childhood chronic illness.
Session #1123 - Qualitative Research Symposium: Complex Designs
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)