The Mixed Methods-Lab (M&M-Lab) is an initiative of the Division for Prevention and Rehabilitation Research and offers researchers interested in the application of empirical social research methods in the field of health services research a space for methodological exchange. The M&M-Lab is headed by Milena von Kutzleben. The M&M-Lab cooperates closely with the Q&Q Lab of the Chair of Medical Sociology at the University of Cologne (https://www.imvr.de/en/chair-of-medical-sociology/)

Expertise and methodological focus

• Qualitative study design planning
• Data collection methods: Interviews, group discussions, observations
• Analysis methods: content-analytical and reconstructive (hermeneutic) methods of qualitative empirical social research
• Various forms of meta-synthesis of qualitative studies (qualitative evidence syntheses)
• Qualitative methods in mixed-methods designs

and

• Quantitative study design planning
• Survey designs and development and implementation of standardized quantitative surveys. The M&M-Lab is equipped with the appropriate software and hardware for the creation and implementation of questionnaire-based surveys.  

Our goal is to advance methods of health services that are tailored to research questions and purposes. In this sense, we deal with the application and further development of empirical social research approaches in the field of health services research and pursue the integration of qualitative and quantitative methods (mixed methods).

Our aims

• Methodological exchange and training: We see the M&M-Lab as a lively place for scientific exchange and discussion on research methods and innovative approaches. In addition, the M&M-Lab is involved in the training of emerging scientists within the framework of teaching.
• Method development: The M&M-Lab is committed to strengthening and further developing qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches in the sense of methods tailored to specific study purposes and theory-generating healthcare research.
• Research cooperation: The M&M-Lab participates in research initiatives focusing on the development and testing of innovative methodological approaches for health services research.