October 2026 MMIRA Webinar:
Participatory Mixed Methods Research in Practice: Lessons and Challenges from a Real-World Study
This MMIRA webinar will draw on Drs. Donmoyer and Galloway’s recent study conducted with the Catholic Diocese of San Diego, with particular attention to their article published in the Journal of Mixed Methods Research (JMMR). The presenters will discuss the participatory mixed methods design they employed in response to significant resource constraints and reflect on five methodological challenges they encountered and navigated throughout the study.
Four of these challenges arose directly from the participatory nature of the research, in which members of the organization being studied became, in effect, members of the research team. The fifth reflects a broader methodological concern that qualitative researchers have long raised about mixing qualitative and quantitative approaches. Drawing on their experiences, the presenters will share practical and methodological insights into the opportunities, complexities, and challenges of conducting participatory mixed methods research in real-world settings.
Presenter Bios:
Fred Galloway and Robert Donmoyer are both Professors of Leadership Studies at the University of San Diego (USD). They have been colleagues at USD for 26 years and together have served as either chair or methodologist on more than 300 completed dissertations. Before coming to USD, Dr. Galloway led all aspects of a five-year, congressionally mandated national evaluation of the Direct Student Loan Program, in addition to running annual surveys of institutions and students and building econometric cost models; he testified before Congress on the evaluation results. While in Washington, DC, he also served as senior policy analyst at the American Council on Education, where he designed and implemented a comprehensive analysis program to determine the impact of existing and proposed public policies on students and institutions. He has published extensively in higher education policy, the economics of education, and all things methodological – both quantitative and qualitative. He has also served as an evaluator for the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Lumina Foundation, the Congressional Budget Office, and the General Accounting Office.
Dr. Donmoyer’s prior experience was a 20-year stint at the Ohio State University, where, in addition to being a faculty member, he also was the Director of the School of Educational Policy and Leadership. He also has been a visiting professor at the University of Auckland, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Toronto. At different points in his career, he has served as a consultant for various foundations, including the Rockefeller Foundation, the Getty Center for Arts Education, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. While working with the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, he headed an evaluation of the Governor of Ohio’s literacy initiative. Throughout his career, he has published extensively about research methods and research utilization in policymaking and practice. His recent publications include “Knowledge is Not What It Used to Be: Organizational Research Implications of Critical Theory and Postmodern Thought” published in The Journal of Organizational Psychology.
Drs. Donmoyer and Galloway have collaborated on various research projects during the 26 years they have been colleagues at USD. Their most recent collaboration was on a study for (and with) the Catholic Diocese of San Diego. That project has led to one in-press publication and two already published papers, including a paper recently published by the Journal of Mixed Methods Research (JMMR), “Mixing Research and Religion: Methodological Insights from a Participatory Mixed Methods Study.”
October 9, 2026 11:00 AM- 12:00 AM (U.S. Eastern Time)
Note: After registration, you will receive an email that includes a link to the Zoom Meeting for the webinar. If you do not receive confirmation soon, please check your junk email box.
