A survey of postgraduate studies indicates that researchers in Jamaica while still embracing monomethods - qualitative or quantitative approaches - are also moving towards employing mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative approaches) in their investigation. While mono-method research tends to run the risk of missing significant findings mixed methods offer a more comprehensive understanding of the variables of a study.

The article provides a brief overview of the context that has led to the emergence of mixed methods research and examines current definitions for this research approach. It examines the philosophical framework for conducting mixed methods research and compares this with those for conducting quantitative and qualitative research. Finally, it presents different mixed methods design possibilities, and discusses some of the methodological implications of these designs, drawing on some of the research being conducted in the School of Education, University of the West Indies, Mona.

This article documents the result of a study carried out to measure the extent to which quantitative text variables can predict the grades that human markers assign to written compositions. The results showed that six quantitative text variables can predict composition grades with an accuracy of 76 per cent. The study is methodologically interesting on two levels. Firstly, it shows a high degree of agreement between qualitative and quantitative forms of text analysis. This result calls into question the opposition that is often made between these two forms of analysis.

It was while we were attending the Third Congress of Qualitative Inquiry at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign in 2007 that the idea of hosting a Qualitative Symposium at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, was conceived. Although as a School of Education we had made much progress in accepting the qualitative approach as an acceptable way to do research, there was still a sense that those who used qualitative methods were operating in isolation.

This quasi-experimental mixed method research attempts to investigate the effects of integrating peace education into the mathematics curriculum. A sample of 4 classes from 4 sample secondary schools in representative areas of Jamaica was selected. The treatment involved integrating peace education into a unit of mathematics lessons on statistics. The quantitative data were obtained through pre-test and post-test on mathematics. Qualitative data were obtained through interviews, student questionnaire surveys, classroom observation, and student and teachers’ reflections.