Mixed methods research: Critical review and guidelines for stronger design, integration, and contribution

Mixed methods research has a prominent place in tourism and hospitality scholarship, yet adoption has advanced faster than methodological selectivity, which leaves many studies combining qualitative and quantitative strands without explaining why both strands were necessary, how the strands were related, or what integrated inference their combination alone made possible. Drawing on a critical review of 222 mixed methods studies published in leading tourism and hospitality journals, this article identifies dominant patterns, strengths and weaknesses, and underused possibilities. In response, the article offers a stage-based guide that links problem formulation, purpose selection, design fit, sampling bridges, strand roles, integration, divergence handling, reporting architecture, and contribution development. In doing so, the article advances a more demanding standard for mixed methods scholarship and argues that the next phase of tourism and hospitality research should shift from routine method combination toward integrated inferences that are conceptually sharper, methodologically clearer, and practically more useful.