Chapter 1: A Framework for Assessing Legitimation in Mixed Research: Implications for the Field of Stress and Coping

According to Greene (2006, 2008), the development of a methodological or research paradigm (as in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed research) in the social and behavioral sciences—including the field of stress and cop- ing—necessitates consideration of four interrelated but conceptually distinct domains: (a) Domain 1: philosophical assumptions and stances; (b) Domain 2: inquiry logics; (c) Domain 3: guidelines for research practice; and (d) Domain 4: sociopolitical commitments. Philosophical assumptions and stances refer to the core philosophical or epistemological assumptions of the methodology. This domain also includes stances and assumptions regarding issues such as single versus multiple-constructed realities, subjectivity versus objectivity, time-free versus time-dependent generalizations, context-free versus context-dependent generalizations, the role of values in research, and the relationship between the knower and the known. As such, the philosophical assumptions and stances domain “guides the inquirer’s gaze to look at particular things in particular ways and offers appropriate philosophical and theoretical justification for this way of seeing, observing, and interpreting” (Greene, 2006, p. 93).