The Future of Mixed Methods Research as Perceived from The SAGE Handbook of Mixed Methods Design

With Reference to Three Leading Japanese Mixed Methods Researchers’ Idea

Abstract

At the "MMR Open Forum" of the annual Japanese Society for Mixed Methods Research meeting held in October 2023, Drs. Hisako Kakai (Aoyama Gakuin University), Taichi Hatta (Shizuoka Graduate University of Public Health), and Mitsuyuki Inaba (Ritsumeikan University) discussed mixed methods research (MMR), introducing the just published Dr. Cheryl Poth's The SAGE Handbook of Mixed Methods Design (2023), and discussed the current and future of MMR. These three leading MMR researchers in Japan introduced not only the contents of the handbook but also the process leading to its publication, showing how tits appreciative attitudes toward diversity are emphasized and embodied in it. Luckily, the author participated as a discussion participant at the forum. As I listened to the three speakers, I realized that while "diversity" is undoubtedly a vital keyword that characterizes modern society's future, it also applies to the future of MMR.

In this issue, AMMR features the three researchers' ideas of the (present and) future landscape of MMR, as they discussed at the forum. There is no doubt that the handbook itself provides a very rich learning experience, but learning about the perspectives of these three researchers will enrich our learning even more by reading the handbook.