Equal-weight exploratory sequential mixed methods design

The equal-weight exploratory sequential mixed methods design is a two-phase research strategy in which an initial qualitative strand explores a phenomenon in depth, and its findings directly inform the construction of a subsequent quantitative strand. Unlike the qualitative-priority variant, both strands carry equal analytic importance: neither serves merely as a supplement to the other. The design is particularly powerful when theory or validated instruments are lacking and researchers must build measurement tools grounded in participants' own frameworks before testing them at scale.