Special Issue on COVID-19 and Novel Mixed Methods Methodological Approaches During Catastrophic Social Changes

Abstract

In the July 2020 issue of the Journal of Mixed Methods Research (JMMR), we (Fetters & Molina-Azorin, 2020) issued a call for papers for a Special Issue on COVID-19 and Novel Mixed Methods Methodology in Catastrophic Social Changes (abbreviated as ''Special Issue on COVID-19'') to identify ''the novel applications and innovative mixed methods methodologies that could inform or have been triggered by the pandemic'' (p. 281). We are pleased to share with you the results of that call.As to context, we noted in the call for papers (Fetters & Molina-Azorin, 2020):. . . researchers of all disciplines need the latest research approaches to investigate the implications of this world catastrophe. In this face of diversity lies opportunities for all walks of researchers to leverage the power of mixed methods research, and for new applications of existing methodologies and creation of novel research methodologies to address a host of challenges in the healing sciences, education, business, health policy, political science, and the social sciences more broadly. (p. 281)In this editorial, we provide a snapshot of the challenges and responses that have occurred in the year since the call was issued. We provide details on the number of submissions and the acceptance rate. We provide an overview of the 7 articles featured in this Special Issue on COVID-19. We end by looking forward with a continued call for the mixed methods community to innovate methodologically to address the ongoing challenges raised by the COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath. The Pandemic Strikes AllVirtually no one in the world has escaped the impact of the catastrophic social changes precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of writing of this editorial (

Using Systems Thinking and Complexity Theory to understand and improve Emergency Medicine: Lessons from COVID‐19 in a safety net health system

“…The pandemic has forced us to radically alter how we develop and utilize science forcing a pivot from these simple designs to complex, multifactorial, evolving and iterative evidence collection and dissemination processes that reflected the world in which COVID-19 itself was changing and adapting. 6,9,10 These changes have been particularly stark in EM which, as a specialty, is inherently dependent on multiple different components of the health system, as well as wider economic, social, governance and political trends. [11][12][13] These factors have stretched each health system regardless of resources or context throughout the pandemic.…”

“…Reductionist or simplistic models, those predicated on an input reliably resulting in an output, permeated our practice from treatment to social determinants to system resources. The pandemic has forced us to radically alter how we develop and utilize science forcing a pivot from these simple designs to complex, multifactorial, evolving and iterative evidence collection and dissemination processes that reflected the world in which COVID‐19 itself was changing and adapting 6,9,10 …”

Virtual Special Issue on “Design of Mixed Methods Research: Past Advancements, Present Conversations, and Future Possibilities”

“…Since entering the second decade of the 21st century, the world continues to experience unprecedented events and opportunities from the global COVID-19 pandemic (Fetters & Molina-Azorin, 2021), gradual movement and incitement towards racial reckoning (Fetters, et al, 2021), and seemingly unfathomable global political upheavals and unprovoked wars. The design of mixed methods research has understandably been and will continue to be influenced in ways difficult to fully describe.…”

Does secondary data suffice? Protected area conflict analysis in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“…As the availability of respondents decreased and data collection in many studies were moved online 4 , the pandemic affected the reliability of quantitative social studies 13 , in uencing both study designs and sampling. Consequently, the mixed-mode methodology tends to be more often acclaimed 14,15 to provide information which could currently be missing from eld studies. Speci cally, standard data collection processes may be replaced by data triangulation using available secondary data.…”