2005 AERA ANNUAL MEETING

MINUTES from MIXED-METHODS SIG BUSINESS MEETING

MIXED-METHODS SESSIONS DURING THE 2005 ANNUAL MEETING

Mixed-Methods Research SIG

2005 Business Meeting Minutes

Montréal, Québec, Canada

14 April 2005 – 6:30 – 8:00

Our first business meeting was called to order with 19 individuals present by Dr. Abbas Tashakkori at 6:28pm. Much of the meeting was devoted to discussing the SIG’s purpose and structure. Dr. Tashakkori indicated at this point the SIG has 60 members. The SIG developed by sending a petition around at various sessions at the 2004 AERA Annual Meeting. With enough signatures, we received the support of AERA to establish as an official SIG (#158).

Officers

One order of business was selecting the number of SIG officers and electing the first members to fill those positions. The suggestion was to start with Chair, Program Chair (& Vice-Chair), and Secretary/Treasurer. Other possibilities include adding a webmaster, newsletter editor, awards chair, and/or social chair.

Dr. Tashakkori was nominated to be the SIG’s first chair – this was seconded and nominations closed with Dr. Tashakkori receiving unanimous support. Burke Johnson was nominated for Program Chair – this was also seconded and Dr. Johnson was elected by unanimous acclimation. Mark Earley was nominated for Secretary/Treasurer – also seconded and unanimous.

The current plan is for the Chair and Program Chair to serve 2-year terms, with the Program Chair moving to the Chair position after those 2 years (for a total of a 4-year commitment when elected to the Program Chair position). The Secretary/Treasurer will serve a 3-year term.

SIG By-Laws will be written by the officers and submitted to the SIG at the 2006 AERA Annual Meeting for approval.

Website & Listserve

We also discussed how best to serve the SIG through a website and listserve. The website for the SIG should remain devoted to educational research, but should link to the current Bridges website as well. The listserve can be housed by AERA and either mediated or not by a SIG officer (most likely the secretary). Dr. Earley will create the website, link it to Bridges, and inform AERA Central Office so the link can be placed on the SIG portion of the main AERA site. Dr. Earley will also work on establishing a listerve through AERA.

What can our SIG do?

The rest of the meeting focused on brainstorming and discussing ideas for possible SIG activities. We have not committed to any of these yet, but the following ideas were tossed out by various members:

·        Making opportunities available to the rest of AERA

·        Bringing attention to mixed-methods research and discussion through promotion, advertisement

·        Serve as an advocate for mixed-methods research in all fields

·        Providing training opportunities – SIG should always have at least one workshop at Annual Meeting (possibilities for more throughout year)

·        Set up a task force for developing the pedagogy for mixed-methods research

·        Generate “best practices” for mixed-methods research

·        Define what exactly mixed-methods research is and the principles for which it stands

·        Serve as consultants for graduate students (e.g., they can e-mail volunteer members with questions)

·        Identify and discuss the emerging issues in mixed-methods research

·        Devote discussion to issues of data analysis software

Further, members might be able to:

·        Promote AERA sessions

·        Collaborate on research papers

·        Hold a symposium as part of each Annual Meeting

·        Serve as spokespersons to federal agencies (e.g., NIH, NSF) and foundations

·        Collaborate on grant proposals

·        Share syllabi to develop the teaching of MM

·        Link with each other through SIG venues

After hearty discussion, the meeting was adjourned for 2005 at 8:00pm.

Minutes faithfully recorded by Vicki Plano-Clark; transcribed by Mark A. Earley

MIXED-METHODS SESSIONS DURING THE 2005 ANNUAL MEETING

Page last updated: 04 August 2006