In This Issue: Quality in Mixed Methods Studies and Reviews, Contingency and Configurational Comparative Methods, and Retroductive Theorizing and Critical Realism in Mixed Methods Research

This January 2023 issue of the Journal of Mixed Methods Research (JMMR) includes an editorial, 5 articles, and 2 media reviews. In the editorial, Guetterman et al. (2023) discuss the issue of quality in mixed methods research. Major developments are reviewed and some remaining gaps and needs are identified. Quality is challenging given different use of terms. For example, quality, validity, and legitimation are often used interchangeably. Quality is further complicated by concerns that research is too contextual and discipline specific to have common quality criteria. However, common criteria are needed, and we concluded with a call to the field to develop core quality reporting criteria for mixed methods research as a way of reaching consensus. Regarding the 5 articles published in this issue, 3 manuscripts focus on quality in mixed methods research. Specifically, in the first article, Hirose and Creswell (2023), with affiliations in psychology and education, proposed 6 core quality criteria: a rationale for mixed methods; quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods questions or aims; separate quantitative and qualitative data; a mixed methods design and a diagram; integration in a joint display; and metainferences and value from the integration analysis. The authors provided a specific case illustration of these criteria, examining their application in an empirical study. In the second article, Perez et al. (2023), with affiliations in educational psychology and health sciences, also focused on quality standards in mixed methods research, exploring and extending the legitimation typology developed by Onwuegbuzie and Johnson (2006). Specifically, the purpose of this article is to examine how researchers are using this typology in their mixed methods studies and to extend and refine the typology for a better use in mixed methods research.