Securing a Place at the Table: A Review and Extension of Legitimation Criteria for the Conduct of Mixed Research

The purpose of this article is to recommend legitimation criteria pertinent for conducting mixed research. First, a discussion of mixed research as a distinctive methodology is presented, and challenges unique to mixed research are outlined. Second, an overview of quality criteria published in the mixed research literature is summarized. Third, the authors extend the discussion of quality criteria by introducing what we call the Holistic and Synergistic Legitimation Research Process, whereby emphasis on philosophical clarity and dialogue with values/perspectives of multiple communities of practice play continuous, iterative, holistic, and synergistic roles in the legitimation process. In so doing, the authors hope to clarify criteria that are important in terms of legitimating inferences drawn throughout a study, and, at the inquiry's conclusion, to provide a perspective for guiding researchers' evaluations of the quality of their research findings, inferences, and applications.