Mixed methods research is often used in software engineering, but researchers outside of the social or human sciences often lack experience when using these designs. This paper provides guidelines and advice on how to design mixed method research, and to encourage the intentional, rigorous, and innovative use of mixed methods in software engineering. It also presents key characteristics of core mixed method research designs. Through a number of fictitious but recognizable software engineering research scenarios, we showcase how to choose suitable designs and consider the inevitable trade-offs any design choice leads to. We describe several antipatterns that illustrate what to avoid in mixed method research, and when mixed method research should be considered over other approaches.

翻译：混合方法研究在软件工程领域应用广泛，但非社会科学或人文科学背景的研究人员在使用此类研究设计时往往缺乏经验。本文为如何设计混合方法研究提供指导与建议，旨在促进软件工程领域中有意识、严谨且创新地运用混合方法。文中阐述了核心混合方法研究设计的关键特征。通过若干虚构但具代表性的软件工程研究场景，我们展示了如何选择合适的研究设计，并考量任何设计选择必然带来的权衡取舍。我们描述了若干反模式，以说明在混合方法研究中应避免的问题，并指出在何种情况下应优先考虑混合方法研究而非其他研究路径。