Critical Realist Position Research Articles

Designing Well-Being: A Qualitative Investigation of Young Patients' Perspectives on the Material Hospital Environment.

Physical surroundings of healthcare facilities are suggested to influence young patients' well-being and hospitalization experiences. The current research seeks to understand young patients' views and perspectives of the hospital lobby and inpatient rooms. Thus, a qualitative study was carried out in a social pediatric clinic for young patients with disabilities, developmental delays, behavioral problems, and chronic health conditions, that is undergoing reconstruction. Operating from a critical realist position, the study employed arts-based methods in conjunction with semi-structured interviews. The data were explored by employing thematic analysis. 37 young people between the age of four and 30 years participated in the study. The analysis illustrates that the built environment should contain comforting and joyful elements, while enabling patients' autonomy. The ideal lobby was depicted as open and accessible and an ideal patient room as practical and adapted to personal needs. It is suggested that disabling and medicalized spatial arrangements and features may restrict young people's sense of control and autonomy, while possibly posing a barrier to a health-promoting environment. Large and open spaces with comforting and distracting features are cherished by patients and may be embedded in a comprehensive, yet simple overall design and structural concept.

The Realism of Discourse: Critical Reflections on the Work of Kevin Schilbrack

Abstract In recent years, there has been an increasing number of scholars who have argued that “religion” is a specifically modern category which first emerged in Western Europe in the seventeenth century and was further developed, and extended to the rest of the world, in the context of colonialism. This, in turn, has led to a discussion of what these studies mean for the study of religion. In this article, I examine an influential answer to this question as it emerges in the work of Kevin Schilbrack, who argues in favour of a critical realist position. I argue, however, that Schilbrack misrepresents the nature of one of the other main theoretical approaches on offer, namely the discursive study of religion. This is a problem because of the relational nature of Schilbrack’s project, in that he argues for his own position based on the problems he identifies in other alternatives.

Why join the navy when you can be a pirate? A study of Chinese audience’s willingness to pay for the live streaming of the premier league

This research aims to investigate the way in which the Chinese audience decides to pay for the live streaming of the English Premier League when there are also other choices from both legal and illegal sites. Following a Critical Realist position, Glaserian Grounded Theory is employed to analyse qualitative data collected through 24 semi-structured interviews to scrutinise how a willingness to pay is influenced. 15 influential factors emerged following the data analysis and were subsequently grouped into four core categories, two of which relate to external factors and the other two are specific to the interviewees. In addition, four attributes of perception are also identified through consistent comparative analysis. Our findings prompt a discussion concerning the essential role of audience interpretation, rather than other factors per se, in shaping their WTP, which has implications for promotional campaigns and points to areas in which further research could be conducted.

The Experience of Self-conscious Emotions in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Thematic Analysis

Few studies have investigated emotional experiences in people living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, self-conscious emotions, including embarrassment and shame, are indicated as a key factor in delayed help-seeking for bowel symptoms, which can result in poorer health outcomes. This study aimed to explore experiences of self-conscious emotions among people with IBD. Fifteen participants were recruited from outpatient IBD clinics and patient groups, and engaged in semi-structured interviews about their experiences of IBD-related self-consciousness. Data were analysed using thematic analysis following an inductive, semantic approach and conducted from a critical realist position. The analysis generated two themes, each with three sub-themes, which captured self-conscious emotions in relation to experiences which threatened participants’ preferred identities. The first theme, ‘Lack of control’ encapsulated participants’ distress relating to fundamental alteration in self-perception, and their attempts to mitigate this. The second, ‘Lack of understanding’ captured distress associated with awareness of being unfairly judged by other people. Clinical implications are identified, including consideration of therapeutic approaches which target self-conscious emotions such as shame, and continued societal efforts to educate others about invisible disabilities such as IBD. Experiences which threatened participants’ identities were implicated in the generation of self-conscious emotions; these should be considered in work with clients with IBD. Future research should target further investigation of these constructs.

Critical Realist Investigation of Real-Time Decision-Making Process Under Uncertainty

The construction of training programs for psychotherapists, requires the production of a practical knowledge database, through research with a coherent epistemology, methodology and method. In order to locate an epistemology which correlated with the researcher-practitioner’s practical approach to knowledge, exploration of existing epistemologies was necessary. The Critical Realist (CR) position enabled composition of the practice approach in coherent academic text. A method for tacit practical knowledge extraction based on dialog between an experienced psychotherapist and his trainee, while she underwent practical training, was developed. Practical knowledge was transferred from teacher to trainee and was transformed while it was apperceived and utilised by the trainee in her practice. A duoethnography was used to contextualise the dialog. That method was elaborated into a collaborative, cyclic research method, which is based on the notion that theories are fallible hypotheses which should be either verified or refuted, in the face of a reality test. In this paper the method is explored and presented including discussion regarding the different roles of the collaborative team members.

Why appealing to the virtues of scientific theory (and method) is necessary but insufficient for effecting systemic change: Commentary on Fergnani & Chermack, 2021

Why appealing to the virtues of scientific theory (and method) is necessary but insufficient for effecting systemic change: Commentary on Fergnani & Chermack, 2021

Developing mixed methods research in sport and exercise psychology: potential contributions of a critical realist perspective

ABSTRACT Notwithstanding diverse opinions and debates about mixing methods, mixed methods research (MMR) is increasingly being used in sport and exercise psychology. In this paper, we describe MMR trends within leading sport and exercise psychology journals and explore critical realism as a possible underpinning framework for conducting MMR. Our meta-study of recent empirical mixed methods studies published in 2017–2019 indicates that eight (36%) of the 22 MMR studies explicitly stated a paradigmatic position (five drew on pragmatism, two switched paradigms between qualitative and quantitative elements of the study, and one was situated in relativist-interpretivism). The remaining 14 (64%) studies did not report their underpinning research philosophical assumptions. Evaluating the merits and limitations of these positions against critical realist assumptions suggests that several paradigmatic disagreements are potentially reconcilable. These include (a) maintaining that ontological and epistemological concerns are important for methodological integrity of a mixed methods study; (b) switching between paradigms in the same study is problematic; and (c) refuting the qualitative-quantitative incommensurability thesis, therefore allowing mixed methods research without compromising philosophical coherence. From a critical realist position, we suggest that both quantitative and qualitative designs are justifiable in a mixed methods study because (1) they help corroborate, refine, or refute plausible explanations of phenomena (epistemological), but (2) with different methodologies utilised to perform different tasks in the same research design related to different psycho-social system features (ontological). We call for a collaborative engagement by researchers across paradigmatic positions to work towards the advancement of methodological pluralism in our research community.

Grounding medical ethics in philosophy of medicine: problematic and potential.

After considering two of Pellegrino's papers that address the relation between philosophy of medicine and medical ethics, I identify several overarching problems in his account that revolve around his self-described essentialism and the lack of a systematic attempt to relate clinical medicine to biomedicine and public health. I address these from the critical realist position of Bernard Lonergan, who grounds both metaphysics and ethics on the normative structure of human inquiry and seeks to understand historical development, such as we are witnessing in health science and health care, in terms of the dynamic structure of the human good. I conclude that Lonergan's generalized empirical method and hierarchical account of world order provide a potentially dynamic framework on which to build a more comprehensive philosophy of medicine than one whose foundations rest primarily on a phenomenology of the clinical encounter and the telos of medicine.

Critical realism and performance measurement and management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of adopting a critical realist position for the study of performance measurement and management (PMM) systems. Design/methodology/approach This paper discusses recent challenges to knowledge creation in PMM, arguing that overcoming these will require revisiting often implicit philosophical assumptions related to how the world is and how we learn about it. A critical realist perspective is explored and illustrated with the case of a software company attempting to empower and motivate its team. Findings Critical realism provides a means of building interdisciplinary knowledge in PMM. In addition to a generative view of causality, critical realism could augment a systems view of PMM by adopting a stratified view of reality and through its applied approach to knowledge building. The case illustrates the RRREIC approach and highlights the interplay of mechanisms of different scales and how this requires interdisciplinarity. Research limitations/implications Approaching the study of PMM with critical realism requires going beyond a particular tool or practice to understand the theory behind it. Such an approach can facilitate a layered, nuanced analysis of the issues facing organizations in a changing context. Originality/value This paper adds to discussion of philosophical topics in management and PMM and could help resolve ongoing challenges to knowledge building in the field, especially around barriers to conducting interdisciplinary research. In combination with rigorous methods, a strong philosophical base can facilitate relevant, lasting theories that can respond to a changing organizational context.

The transgender controversy: second response to Pilgrim

ABSTRACT David Pilgrim is, in his words, ‘not at all hostile’ to transgender people. Nevertheless, in my opinion, his position allows him to provide a veneer of philosophical acceptability to transphobic arguments: such as that, if a person can choose their gender, they should be able to choose their age. In stripping away the veneer, I demonstrate that Bhaskar's (not Pilgrim's) version of the transitive and intransitive dimensions resolves the supposed conundrum. I also take issue with the idea that sex is biological and gender is a social construct, i.e. that there is a duality between object (body, sex) and subject (mind, gender). I argue that this duality does more harm than good in the fight for equality since it gives philosophical resources to those who would bully LGBTIQ, allowing them to blame their victims. I use my understanding of gender to arrive at a compassionate resolution of the restroom debate, in which everyone's wellbeing is considered. I also warn that the debate may have been commandeered by men to achieve a transphobic agenda and that all women (trans and cis) are likely to pay a high price because of it. Furthermore, an unexpected result of my analysis is that Judith Butler's position is, in significant ways and contrary to the opinion of some critical realists, similar to the Bhaskarian critical realist position.

How can mentoring support women in a male-dominated workplace? A case study of the UK police force

There is little academic research in relation to mentoring, learning and women, particularly in the male-dominated organizational context of the UK Police force. Currently, there is a Home Office drive to address inequality within the UK Police with a number of initiatives proposed including mentoring interventions, flexible working arrangements and positive-action recruitment initiatives. The purpose of this study is to investigate what policewomen mentees and mentors perceive they are learning through formal mentoring over time and how this makes a difference for them in the workplace. This will provide insights into whether Government investment in formal mentoring is the right intervention to help create a more gender-reflective, more equal workforce, in the Police. This study takes a critical realist position and an interpretivist theoretical perspective investigating a single case study organization. Key themes, spread across the four phases of the mentoring lifecycle were explored through 68 semi-structured interviews and four focus groups. Key findings are uncovered in relation to learning outcomes for these policewomen, both as mentees and mentors. It was found that mentoring added value across all four learning domains (cognitive, skills, affective-related and social networks) and that the largest number of responses over time, were in relation to the affective-related domain, particularly building self-confidence. These findings are significant as they demonstrate that formal mentoring programmes can support and empower women within the specific workplace of the UK Police. In conclusion, if women are being precluded from breaking the “glass labyrinth” because of lack of knowledge, opportunity and networks to progress within this context, then mentoring could be part of this solution. If the masculine organizational culture is also creating prejudice and obstacles for women in the workplace (the “concrete floor”), then mentoring might be one way towards breaking down these barriers. In addition, if all (or some) of these factors are contributing to women’s lower self-confidence levels and the “sticky floor” syndrome, then again the findings suggest that mentoring may be part of the solution towards empowering women beyond their current role. It is hoped that these insights will impact the emphasis put on the various Home Office recommendations and the initiatives offered by different Police forces. It is also hoped that these insights will have implications for other organizations that are considering investing in mentoring interventions, for similar groups or beyond. This article is published as part of a collection on the role of women in management and the workplace.

Critical realism and grounded theory: Analysing the adoption outcomes for disabled children using the retroduction framework

The critical realist position moves away from merely identifying correlations and attempts to seek out the causal mechanisms which underpin disadvantage. By drawing on an empirical study on placing disabled children for adoption, the article seeks to demonstrate the practical application of critical realist by combining its Retroductive framework with Grounded Theory methods. Bhaskar’s ‘Retroduction’ provides an analytical framework from which the researcher examines data within three distinct levels (observable; actual; real). The Observable and Actual levels are processes which identify significant incidences and connections between variables. The ‘Real’, attempts to extend conceptual analysis by hypothesising about the causal mechanisms which account for a situation. This article argues that the multidimensional framework offered through Retroduction is necessary if we are to fully grasp the disadvantage disabled children experience in adoption processes. This entails examining the extent to which socially constructed notions of childhood and disability implicitly affect the practice decisions of social workers. The findings presented through these levels of analysis reveal a nuanced and multilayered understanding of adoption outcomes.

Some reflections on vitalism and indeterminism

This paper considers a series of unresolved matters from scientific debates in the 19th century about vitalism and indeterminism. Beginning with everyday experiences of being alive, which at times invoke agency in relation to both the human and the non-human world, alongside the cognitive bias of blaming others and excusing ourselves, the paper moves into an overview of those earlier debates, in a period when psychology was emerging as a discipline separated from philosophy. One common account is that vitalism was put into the dustbin of history by a form of scientific rationalism (which was avowedly reductionist about causes and completely deterministic in its logic). However, the paper considers the various ways in which vitalism and indeterminism have remained important in the academy, across the disciplines. A critical realist position is offered at the end in order to draw out implications of this lack of resolution of older debates for contemporary psychology.

Lydia Jaeger and Herman Dooyeweerd: dialogues on the foundations of Christian scholarship

This article introduces and discusses Lydia Jaeger’s dialogue with and critical evaluation of a few aspects of Dooyeweerd’s philosophy. From her critical realist position, Jaeger evaluates Dooyeweerd’s rejecti on of the ‘Logos-speculation’ and his definitions of truth . As he deviates from the Christian epistemological tradition referring to the ‘ correspondence between thought and reality ’ , Jaeger argues that he fails to connect s ubject and object sufficiently . I argue that in Dooyeweerd’s ontology subject and object are thoroughly interwoven by the law -order . I also question Jaeger’s critique that , in his epistemology, Dooyeweerd doesn’t make sufficient use of biblical resources and is too i nclined towards idealism . I suggest that Jaeger’s contentions could be re-considered and that a more positive approach to ref ormational philosophy may open new avenues for her own research . This article introduces and discusses Lydia Jaeger’s dialogue with and critical evaluation of a few aspects of Dooyeweerd’s philosophy. From her critical realist position, Jaeger evaluates Dooyeweerd’s rejecti on of the ‘Logos-speculation’ and his definitions of truth . As he deviates from the Christian epistemological tradition referring to the ‘ correspondence between thought and reality ’ , Jaeger argues that he fails to connect s ubject and object sufficiently . I argue that in Dooyeweerd’s ontology subject and object are thoroughly interwoven by the law -order . I also question Jaeger’s critique that , in his epistemology, Dooyeweerd doesn’t make sufficient use of biblical resources and is too i nclined towards idealism . I suggest that Jaeger’s contentions could be re-considered and that a more positive approach to ref ormational philosophy may open new avenues for her own research . https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.80.2.2223

Let's get real: a critical semiotic analysis of Irish print media discourses

ABSTRACTIn what follows, I critically assess the merits of the relativist and realist positions in the social and human sciences, and argue that the relativisation of truth claims operates to mask relations of power and inequality, and also offers impunity to discursive mystifications denying the existence of both. Alternatively, I argue that the Critical Realist position, with its realist ontology and relativist epistemology, allows for the identification of such structures, and as a consequence of its emphasis on the materiality of discourse, for the identification of mystificatory meaning-making. And I operationalise my argument through critical analysis and commentary on four texts drawn from newspapers across the range for such in Ireland on the related issues of wealth and welfare.

Rethinking the philosophical and theoretical foundations of organizational neuroscience: A critical realist alternative

Stimulated by the growing use of brain imaging and related neurophysiological techniques in psychology and economics, scholars have begun to debate the implications of neuroscience for management and organization studies (MOS). Currently, this debate is polarizing scholarly opinion. At one extreme, advocates are calling for a new neuroscience of organizations, which they claim will revolutionize understanding of a wide range of key processes, with significant implications for management practice. At the other extreme, detractors are decrying the relevance of neuroscience for MOS, primarily on philosophical and ethical grounds. The present article progresses this debate by outlining an intermediate, critical realist position, in which the insights of social neuroscience are one of a number of convergent building blocks that together point toward the need for a more embodied and socially situated view of cognition in management and organizations.

Lived experience and discursive context: A twin focus

In this paper we discuss the methodological framework of the first author’s PhD thesis in order to expose the thinking underpinning a dual focus methodology for a research programme which sets out to explore both the lived experience, and the socially constructed nature of ‘satisfaction’ in long-term, heterosexual relationships. The proposal is that these two distinct exploratory foci can be addressed by conducting two distinct qualitative analyses on a single body of narrative data generated via interviews with 12 people from the general population; using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and then using Focauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA). This approach presents a theoretical challenge as the two methodologies are grounded within different epistemologies. We propose that by adopting a critical realist position at the thesis level, rather than at the individual empirical level of the research, the epistemological assumptions of both methodologies can be maintained and the two foci can yield analytic insights alongside one another. By drawing on established hermeneutic theory, we propose that the interpretative stories generated from this dual focus approach can come together in potentially complementary ways and ‘bridg[e] the classical dichotomy between distanced explanation and close understanding’ (Alvesson & Skoldberg, 2009, p.130) associated with IPA and FDA respectively. The current paper will present and discuss the proposed dual focus approach, addressing the benefits and challenges of conducting both an IPA and an FDA on the same data set. It will conclude by outlining pragmatic suggestions for undertaking a dual focus analysis, including managing the interview structure and process, and the phases of analysis. The intention is to contribute to the growing preoccupation within the field of qualitative research about the limitations of an exclusive focus on the role of language in shaping realities and experience (e.g. Willig, 2007).

How is the Relationship Significance Brought About? A Critical Realist Approach

The markets-as-networks theorists contend, at least tacitly, the significance of business relationships for the focal firm - that is, business relationships contribute somewhat to the focal firm's survival and growth. We do not deny the existence of significant business relationships but sustain, in contrast to the consensus within the Markets-as-Networks Theory, that relationship significance should not be a self-evident assumption. Significance cannot be a taken-for-granted property of each and every one of the focal firm's business relationships. We adopt explicitly a critical realist position in this conceptual paper and claim that the relationship significance is an event of the business world, whose causes remain yet largely unidentified. Where the powers and liabilities of business relationships (i.e., their functions and dysfunctions) are put to work, inevitably under certain contingencies (namely the surrounding networks and markets), effects result for the focal firm (often benefits in excess of sacrifices, i.e., relationship value) and as a result the relationship significance is likely to be brought about. In addition, the relationship significance can result from the dual influence that business relationships have on a great part of the structure and powers and liabilities of the focal firm, i.e., its nature and scope respectively.

Regulating criticism: some comments on an argumentative complex

This commentary identifies a range of flaws and contradictions in Parker’s critical realist position and his critique of relativism. In particular we highlight: (1) a range of basic errors in formulating the nature of relativism; (2) contradictions in the understanding and use of rhetoric; (3) problematic recruitment of the oppressed to support his argument; (4) tensions arising from the distinction between working in and against psychology. We conclude that critical realism is used to avoid doing empirical work, on the one hand, and to avoid scholarly interdisciplinary engagement, on the other.

In Praise of Duality and Dualism: Rethinking Agency and Structure in Organizational Analysis

This paper develops a critique of a number of highly influential theoretical interventions in contemporary organizational analysis that have collapsed structure into agency. It suggests that these approaches, which draw, in various ways, on the 'postmodern turn' in organizational analysis, have seriously weakened the explanatory power and political imagination of the latter. In direct contrast to theoretical approaches based on flat or compacted social onto logies, the paper supports a critical realist position as providing a layered or stratified social ontology on which a more structurally robust and inclusive explanations of organizational phenomena can be constructed. By adopting a realist ontology and methodology, organizational analysis will be much better placed to understand and explain the interplay between structure and agency, and its 'fateful' consequences for social actors.