Extended-mixed methods: a new research paradigm for the creative industries

Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods designs are accepted approaches to researching the creative industries. However, while these bring a depth of understanding, they do not generally include an understanding of the ‘making’ of a creative artefact; practitioners in the creative industries make creative products. A first-hand examination of the ‘making’, via an approach such as creative practice as research, provides a much-needed account of creative activity in the creative industries. But we take this argument further and provide a rationale for using creative practice as research alongside quantitative and qualitative approaches in a new research approach called extended-mixed methods. This paper discusses this approach and demonstrates that it can be defended within a constructionist epistemology.