Mixed methods and wellbeing: Issues emerging from multiple studies into mentoring for doctors

In this chapter, we explore the development of a body of research work related to mentoring for doctors. The work consists of four research projects undertaken sequentially over almost two decades using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. Research into mentoring has traditionally focused broadly on mentoring schemes, career development and benefits for mentees. In this chapter, we describe how through the series of studies and facilitated by the mixture of methods used, we saw unexpected hints and glimpses of wellbeing benefits for mentors emerge and build. This culminated in the final study, which explicitly focused on the relationship between engagement in mentoring activities and doctors’ health and wellbeing. While charting our research journey within this chapter, we highlight some key issues related to using mixed methods (e.g. funders’ requirements; enabling and employing diverse viewpoints, data types and analytical lenses; rigour and reflexivity). We then reflect on the studies and highlight a series of broader issues of importance for researchers wishing to employ mixed methods in the field of wellbeing including the wellbeing of the research participants and the researchers themselves.