Toward Pragmatic Criteria for Evaluating HRD Research

Abstract

Although well-established criteria exist for evaluating the quality of research conducted using the Positivistic lens, and some criteria exist for judging research conducted using the Postmodernist lens, few criteria exist for judging research conducted using the Pragmatic lens. This is significant as mixed methods, complexity, and systems dynamics research belong to this lens, and a lack of criteria for judging quality may alternately contribute to either a shortage of Pragmatic research or a plethora of lower quality, uncritically evaluated Pragmatic research. The purpose of this article is to propose a theory-building process for Pragmatic research and to explore some possible criteria for evaluating the quality of Pragmatic research.