Grounded theory as a framework for explanatory sequential mixed-method design, an example from educational research

Abstract In this article we provide a methodological argument for conducting mixed-methods (MM) research by using Grounded Theory (GT) methodology. The contribution to the mixed method research is twofold. First, in contrast to the standard approaches to the sequential explanatory designs in which the qual strand comes after the quant, we argue that in a MM-GT design the qual strand precedes because GT methodology aims at explaining the participants’ main concern under conditions. Second, the GT framework guides data analysis for both the qual and the quant data set, not only for the qual. We show how the qualitative part of connecting categories during theoretical coding, shapes the index construction in the quantitative part. To illuminate, we provide the details of an explanatory sequential MM-GT educational research project in which teachers’ views on refugee/migrant students’ integration into the school system are examined.