Mixed methods research doesn’t have to be overwhelming—structured data collection and smart use of tools like NVivo, ATLAS.ti, and XLSTAT can simplify the entire process. From transcribing interviews to organizing field notes and running statistical analyses, staying disciplined and methodical is the key to turning messy data into meaningful insights. No tricks—just practical steps to keep your research on track.
Is your mixed methods research project looking like a horror movie on Halloween? Lots of uncertainty, plenty of pitfalls, and endless nightmares with no end in sight? First, it’s good to know that you’re not alone. Mixed methods research involves copious amounts of data and multiple approaches to data analysis. Scary stuff!
Messy data can be a real nightmare—especially when deadlines loom and critical insights are hard to find. But fear not! You can take a lot of the spookiness out of the research process with the right tools and know-how.
In this article, we’ll share some simple, effective tips and point out the right tools in NVivo, ATLAS.ti, and XLSTAT to keep your data organized and your analysis sharp. No tricks, all treats!
Mixed methods research involves collecting qualitative and quantitative data. Some studies require quantifying qualitative data that comes from interviews, field notes, and other unstructured forms of information. In that case, you’ll need to approach qualitative data collection in an intentional and organized way.
Transcribe all your audio. Researchers analyze interview data for what speakers say, how much they say, and how often they speak. Transcripts are the backbone for most qualitative analysis of interviews. Give each interview its own file, then group them together by meaningful categories (gender, age, type of work). ATLAS.ti’s document groups and NVivo’s sets provide the necessary organization that will make later analysis easy.
Take structured field notes. Data from observational research takes the form of field notes, and untrained researchers make the mistake of just writing a stream of consciousness that can be a nightmare to organize later. Instead, structuring notes by keywords (e.g., “surprising event,” “scary moment”) at the beginning of every note, then code each note for those keywords in NVivo and ATLAS.ti to make data retrieval painless.
Put your quantitative data in Excel. Quantitative data often comes from structured sources such as surveys that produce numerical results. While Excel is ideal for entering and organizing this data, XLSTAT extends its capabilities by helping you manage, explore, and prepare the information for later analysis. Before you start your statistical work, use Excel and XLSTAT to structure your dataset clearly: each variable should have its own column, and each participant or observation should occupy a single row. Assign clear labels, maintain consistent data types, and avoid empty cells to ensure accuracy.
Once your data is collected, it’s time to organize it in meaningful ways. There’s no room for gut feeling and intuition in rigorous analysis. Instead, rely on NVivo and ATLAS.ti to organize the data and prepare it for empirically identifying useful insights.
Keep a record of data sources, codes, and memos. The more you document your research in a structured way, the easier it will be for you and your colleagues to make sense of the project. Take memos during data collection and the development of your codebook and store those memos in NVivo and ATLAS.ti so you can refer to notes about your thought process during every stage of research.
Organize and check your quantitative data. Just as NVivo and ATLAS.ti structure your qualitative materials, XLSTAT helps you organize quantitative data effectively within Excel. You can label and manage variables, define categories, and check data consistency using XLSTAT’s data management features. Once your data is well formatted, use XLSTAT to perform data cleaning and management tasks such as identifying missing values, checking variable distributions, or detecting outliers and anomalies. By maintaining structured and well-documented quantitative datasets, you create a solid foundation for deeper analysis and merging results with qualitative findings in later stages.
Data analysis comes down to persuading your audience about the meaning of the data. In mixed methods research, the analysis is twofold: identifying insights from your qualitative or quantitative data and transforming one form of data to another.
NVivo and ATLAS.ti both allow you to code transcripts by speaker name, so the number of times a speaker contributes to an interview can be counted by the number of code applications in each transcript. Or use the word frequency tools in either program to determine what words are spoken more often than others. These and other tools help quantify your qualitative data, making it ready for mixed methods analysis.
Qualitative data can be transformed into spreadsheets for quantitative analysis, while spreadsheets can be imported into NVivo and ATLAS.ti for qualitative coding. When you need to conduct mixed methods research, you can export data quickly and easily for use in other data analysis programs.
In the quantitative phase, XLSTAT provides powerful analytical tools to test hypotheses, explore patterns, and validate findings. Once your data is cleaned and structured, you can perform correlation tests, t-tests, ANOVA, regression models, or even advanced multivariate analyses such as principal component analysis or cluster analysis—all directly within Excel. These analyses can reveal relationships between variables, highlight significant effects, and quantify trends that complement your qualitative insights.
Good data practices aren’t scary—they’re smart. Theory and scientific knowledge are the products of rigorous research, but it’s discipline and organization that makes the difference between a nightmare of data analysis and a dream come true. Make sure to treat every stage of the research process with respect and rigor so it doesn’t come back to haunt you later.
Treat yourself to smarter data analysis and buy Lumivero’s research solutions today.
