Convergent Example

Research question: A researcher is contacted by physicians from a local hospital to help them understand why their patients frequently do not adhere to the medical advice to quit smoking after being diagnosed with cardiovascular, pulmonary, or other health conditions where smoking is particularly problematic.

Design Components 1 and 2: The researcher proposes and conducts a convergent mixed methods study of patients who currently smoke in which both qualitative and quantitative data are collected from the same participants in a single meeting. The researcher conceived of it as a primarily qualitative study (Qual-quant) that is supplemented by additional quantitative data for the purposes of validation and triangulation. In a meeting with each participant, they completed a small set of quantitative questionnaires to assess factors known to be associated with smoking (e.g., intention to quit, social norms about smoking, self-efficacy to quit, psychological health, stress, and level of concern about their diagnosis) followed by an in-depth qualitative interview about why they smoke (e.g., what they like and don’t like about smoking, what factors trigger the need to smoke, their perceived ability to quit, the support they receive to quit, and the role of their illness in motivating them to quit). A follow-up assessment of whether or not they were successful at quitting was conducted three months later.

Insights: In the qualitative interviews, participants reported that even after their health diagnosis they were not highly motivated to quit, believed it was “too late” to quit because they had already experienced health problems, felt they needed cigarettes to manage the stressors in their work/home life, and that their family and friends also smoked (thus making it hard to quit), and that many of the social/recreational activities involved smoking (e.g., going to bars, taking cigarette breaks at work). Several of these qualitative insights were validated/triangulated by the quantitative data as well. The quantitative findings revealed that those who had quit smoking at follow-up had earlier reported greater intention and self-efficacy to quit, less life stress, more negative social norms about smoking, and greater concern about their diagnosis than those participants who did not quit.