Mixed methods in public administration research: selecting, sequencing, and connecting

Over the last decades, the use of mixed methods (MMs) has been burgeoning across social sciences. MMs have also been recommended as a viable research strategy for conducting studies in Public Administration. Through a systematic review conducted on seven journals, the article explores the extent to which the field has seized this opportunity and how it has done so. The review is organized around a framework that offers guidance on the analysis and design of MMs and is based on three pillars: selecting, sequencing, and connecting methods. The findings show that the field has been increasingly receptive to the adoption of designs combining at least a quantitative and a qualitative component. They indicate awareness of the repertoire of sequences available, ranging from parallel to sequential. They show signs of transparent reporting of unexpected results. However, they also show critical elements that may weaken the execution, hence the contribution yielded by the design. Drawing on the analysis of these limitations, the article points to the need to engage systematically in combining the results obtained through the separate research processes and to fully employ the evidence collected, especially through interviews, as a connecting point.