Emerging Methodologies and Methods Practices in the Field of Mixed Methods Research

This special issue marks a reflective turning point in thinking about the theory and practice of mixed methods research. As a field of study, mixed methods practice is both “old” and “emergent.” It is old in that the field of mixed methods has an historical legacy of practice that has remained invisible. Early on, social science research practice employed mixed methods data. Hesse-Biber (2010) notes,Mixed methods research developed with the earliest social research projects; among these are studies of poverty within families conducted in the 1800s in Europe by researchers such as Frederic LePlay (1855) and Charles Booth (1891) . . . research practices included the use of demographic analysis, participant surveys and observations, and social mapping tech-niques. These methods practices filtered into the research landscape in the United States by the begin-ning of the 20th century. . . . The