The 10th Annual Conference of the Japan Society for Mixed Methods Research was held on November 16.17, 2024, under the theme “The Art of Integration.” Keynote lectures by Creswell, Ivankova, Hadley, and Sato addressed methodological and educational issues. Workshops introduced the “MMR Treasure Hunt” and qualitatively-driven mixed methods research. The MMR Open Forum highlighted initiatives in e-learning, while the Crosstalk session explored the possibilities and ethics of generative AI. Overall, the conference reviewed the achievements of the past decade and provided a platform to envision the future of mixed methods research.

To provide better guidance for mixed methods research, recent discussions have only recently begun to address the procedures involved in mixed methods data analysis. This article presents a process approach to understanding the steps involved in mixed methods data analysis. I rely on a six-step framework for understanding mixed methods research. This framework involved stating a problem, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, presenting these data within a research design, analyzing integration within the design, and representing the integration within a joint display. From this joint display the author draws insights or metainferences about integration results. Using this framework, the discussion divides these steps into pre-analysis and mixed methods analysis procedures. Following the discussion about mixed methods analysis, the paper ends with an empirical article from Japan and the use of mixed methods data analysis steps in the article. This discussion contributes to mixed method research by advancing a process model to understand the basic concepts of mixed methods research and the recent, innovative mixed methods analysis steps in the literature: integration, joint displays, and metainferences.

Mixed methods and community-based participatory action research approaches have long been a methodology of choice to address complex problems of practical importance and to deliver community-prioritized outcomes. This paper describes a meaningful intersection of mixed methods and action research, its epistemological advantages for designing stakeholder-informed, context-specific, and action-oriented mixed methods studies guided by the mixed methods action research framework. Five procedural steps of the framework use for engaging stakeholders with mixed methods research are described and their application in teaching practice is illustrated by using a learning through action approach in a structured simulated environment as part of a graduate level mixed methods research course. Learning in action through simulation guided by the mixed methods action research framework is an effective way to master mixed methods research and enhance its application in real-world settings.

The repertory grid technique, originally developed by George Kelly within the framework of Personal Construct Theory, is a methodological innovation that uniquely combines qualitative and quantitative dimensions. Despite its adoption in fields such as education, management, and cross-cultural studies, its use within Mixed Methods Research (MMR) remains limited. This paper critically examines the potential of repertory grids to advance MMR by offering structured means of eliciting participants’ implicit assumptions while simultaneously generating analyzable numerical data. After outlining the historical and theoretical foundations of the repertory grid technique, we provide a step-by-step explanation of its procedures and options for qualitative and statistical analysis. We then evaluate its strengths, such as its ability to produce rich, participant-centered insights and integrated datasets, alongside limitations including time-intensive administration and challenges in scaling to large, diverse populations. Building on this assessment, the paper explores how repertory grids may be applied within three major MMR designs: convergent, explanatory sequential, and exploratory sequential. Illustrative examples from education, healthcare, and organizational research demonstrate how repertory grids can function as integrative tools, generating joint displays that merge qualitative constructs with quantitative ratings. We argue that repertory grids represent an underutilized but highly adaptable resource for enhancing integration in MMR, particularly in studies involving individuals or small groups. By foregrounding both practical applications and theoretical contributions, this article encourages researchers to reconsider repertory grids as a valuable methodology for enriching the depth, rigor, and interpretive clarity of mixed methods studies.

The repertory grid technique, originally developed by George Kelly within the framework of Personal Construct Theory, is a methodological innovation that uniquely combines qualitative and quantitative dimensions. Despite its adoption in fields such as education, management, and cross-cultural studies, its use within Mixed Methods Research (MMR) remains limited. This paper critically examines the potential of repertory grids to advance MMR by offering structured means of eliciting participants’ implicit assumptions while simultaneously generating analyzable numerical data. After outlining the historical and theoretical foundations of the repertory grid technique, we provide a step-by-step explanation of its procedures and options for qualitative and statistical analysis. We then evaluate its strengths, such as its ability to produce rich, participant-centered insights and integrated datasets, alongside limitations including time-intensive administration and challenges in scaling to large, diverse populations. Building on this assessment, the paper explores how repertory grids may be applied within three major MMR designs: convergent, explanatory sequential, and exploratory sequential. Illustrative examples from education, healthcare, and organizational research demonstrate how repertory grids can function as integrative tools, generating joint displays that merge qualitative constructs with quantitative ratings. We argue that repertory grids represent an underutilized but highly adaptable resource for enhancing integration in MMR, particularly in studies involving individuals or small groups. By foregrounding both practical applications and theoretical contributions, this article encourages researchers to reconsider repertory grids as a valuable methodology for enriching the depth, rigor, and interpretive clarity of mixed methods studies.

With increasing frequency, we see the intersection of rigorous qualitative methodologies in mixed methods studies. While we find grounded theory, ethnography, narrative, and phenomenology studies representing the qualitative strand in mixed methods projects, a new approach from Japan, the Trajectory Equifinality Approach (TEA), holds promise as an intersecting qualitative methodology for examining behavior change and decision-making over time. Unfortunately, this approach has limited discussion in the English-speaking literature to date. In this article, we advance the emerging "intersected" mixed methods design, describe using qualitative methodologies as the intersected "strand" in a mixed methods study, advance TEA as a rigorous methodology in a mixed method design, and present an empirical mixed methods study using TEA in terms of its worldview, questions, data collection, data analysis, validity, and writing structure. This article contributes to the mixed methods literature by advancing a behaviorally oriented, longitudinal qualitative approach (TEA), encouraging its use in mixed methods research, and expanding the discussion of "intersected" mixed methods designs.

Background: One of the challenges associated with people with depression returning to work is a high recurrence rate for leaves of absence. “Rumination” has been shown to be a characteristic behavior of Japanese males who take recurrent leaves of absence. Rumination-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy may help prevent recurrent leaves of absence, but there have not yet been research reports on its effectiveness.

Objective: In this study, rumination-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy will be conducted with Japanese males with depression who have returned to work. The effect of this therapy in improving rumination symptoms will be examined.

Methods: The entire study is mixed-methods research that integrates a qualitative study into a quantitative single-arm comparative study. The participants are 20 Japanese males with depression who have returned to work. The period of time over which the study will be conducted will be January 2024 to September 2025. In-person sixty-minute rumination-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy will be conducted with four-to-six-person groups once weekly for six weeks. Assessments will be made using tools including the Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS), Beck Depression Inventory, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and WHOQOL-26. In addition, semi-structured interviews will be conducted to collect information that includes changes in the participants’ responses to rumination after the intervention. Audio recordings of remarks made during the program and copies of worksheets will be also analyzed.

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to investigate how well graduate students are prepared for doing mixed methods research (MMR) through exploring the offered courses on the topic of MMR at U.S. research universities.

Methods: This study utilized a convergent mixed methods research design, we collected and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data separately and integrated the results. This study reviewed the public data from the Carnegie Classifications research universities. We generated a list of 279 R1 and R2 national universities. Among the 279 research universities, 134 offer MMR courses, which highlights a growing emphasis on equipping students with diverse research methodologies and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration in academic institutions.

Results: The findings demonstrated a significant presence of MMR courses at R1 and R2 research universities, with R1 institutions having a significantly higher prevalence. This distribution suggests that research-intensive universities are more active in incorporating MMR into their curricula, possibly due to the higher demand for diverse research methods among senior researchers and their access to extensive resources to support scientific research. Our results show that the top departments that offer courses on MMR include education, public health, sociology, communication, nursing, social science, and administration health services.

This paper examines future directions of mixed methods research in Japan, drawing on the historical development of qualitative methodologies. Based on the author’s research with mothers in the childrearing stage, a process of constructing a scale through qualitative analysis of open-ended responses and validating it through quantitative surveys is revisited as an early example of an exploratory sequential design in mixed methods research. Subsequently, recognizing the limitations of understanding human phenomena solely through quantitative variables, the author shifted toward critical and historical inquiry and eventually developed a new qualitative methodology—the Trajectory Equifinality Approach (TEA). TEA visualizes human life courses along two axes: irreversible time and the realization or non-realization of equifinality points, thereby revealing multiple developmental trajectories and social influences. This paper focuses on TEA as a recent addition to mixed methods research and demonstrates its applicability within exploratory sequential, explanatory sequential, and convergent parallel designs through specific examples. It concludes that qualitative research should not be viewed as subordinate to mixed methods but as co-evolving with it, and that understanding the diversity of qualitative inquiry is essential for the further advancement of mixed methods research.