Assoc. Prof. Milagros C. Arrevillaga, PhD a faculty member of the Faculty of Arts and Letters and a researcher at the Research Center for Education, Culture and Social Issues (RCCESI), presented her study on Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) Involvement and the Spiritual Growth of the Youth and Adults in Selected Areas of Davao, Philippines, during the 2016 Conference of the Mixed Methods International Research Association (MMIRA), held from August 3 to August 6, 2016 at Calman Learning Centre, Durham University, United Kingdom.
The core theme of the conference was to center mixed methods research (MMR) approaches to reconstruct the available tools of social science, in relation to public debate, engagement, and social transformation. Growing within and across mixed methods international and interdisciplinary communities of inquiry, MMR has become a vibrant field, providing a way for plurality of methodological approaches and philosophical perspectives.
In her research, Arrevillaga established the relationship between the involvement of the youth and adults in Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) vis-à-vis their spiritual growth. This is also a way to differentiate the thoughts, emotions, and behavior of the youth and adults in their communal involvement. Utilizing the Mixed-Methods Research Design (explanatory sequential), the research started with the conduct of survey. This was followed by Focus Group Discussions (FDGs) to help explain quantitative results.
Paper presentations were followed by mentorship roundtables that provided time for a small group of trainees to meet and learn key lessons from leaders in mixed methods research. The mentors were Sharlene Hesse-Beiber on behalf of John Creswell for design considerations in mixed methods research [MMR]); Tony Onwegbuzie for quality considerations in MMR; Mike Fetters for writing an MMR article for publication; Pat Bazeley for mixed analysis; Burke Johnson for pragmatism and philosophical considerations in MMR; and Donna Mertens for social justice and MMR
