I am a PhD student and have been part of a large scale research project - a mixed method prospective cohort study. It is grounded in a pragmatic approach and the overall study utilised a 'concurrent QUAN + qual' typology. It collected three types of data - clinical outcome data (quan), survey data (quan + qual) and focus group data (qual). There are several strands to the research. I am preparing an article for publication on one aspect of the study which has the focus group data as the dominant data source. Although the overall study was quan dominant this article is qual dominant. Is it appropriate to capitalise the QUAL to identify the focus of the article? For example:

"The focus groups (QUAL) provided the primary data for this article, supplemented by the six week postpartum survey data, which has both qualitative ‘open text’ questions (qual) and quantitative ‘closed’ questions (quan) data. "

I am new to MM research, and am very excited by its possibilities although challenged by its complexity!

I would appreciate some advice from MM experts.

Thanks.