examples of critical realism in research

“Although realism in some form or other is the tacit philosophy of many working scientists, and is endorsed by the majority of professional philosophers of science, it does not figure prominently in methodological discussions and research practice in the social sciences.” Haig and Evers, Realist Inquiry in Social Science (2016, p. ix). The four modes of reasoning used most in social research are induction, deduction, abduction, and Calls for a more political approach to ICT4D field research (Krauss & Turpin. And, as again noted above, its contingent approach to causality provides a better reflection of the varied cause‐effect patterns seen in ICT4D in practice. 18 examples: There are also many critiques of critical realism. While frameworks for research based on critical realism have been developed (Pawson and Tilley 1997; Danermark et al. The Emperical 8.2. A comparison of the contributions of critical realism and activity theory, What are we doing? Although rarely made explicit, analysis has been undertaken to infer the paradigms being used. In this section, we will look at the potential value that critical realism can bring to ICT4D research—largely following the structure of the previous section—and will also acknowledge some challenges. Learn more. Critical realism is a philosophical well from which Marxists, Bourdieusians, Habermasians, Latourians, and even poststructuralists have drawn. But alongside this generic value of adopting any research paradigm, critical realism may have a particular current value in ICT4D. His main research interests are B2B markets and marketing, organisational and managerial behaviour, strategic practices, critical realism and case teaching methods. These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Abduction has an uncertain relation to critical realism and retroduction. Conference tracks or journal special issues dealing with critical/political perspectives on ICT4D (eg, Andrade & Urquhart. As an ICT4D example, Erumi‐Esin and Heeks (2015) use the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology to analyse factors influencing adoption of ICTs by female entrepreneurs in Nigeria. There is a generic ability of critical realism to address issues seen as concerns for ICT4D research. These include biases of case and respondent selection (Burrell & Toyama, 2009); biases of the researchers themselves (Krauss, 2012); and biases of individual research methods (Dearden, 2013). If you do not receive an email within 10 minutes, your email address may not be registered, In this paper, we explore the value of a “third way” research paradigm: critical realism. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal. Epistemological Dimension is Transitive 5. Because of ICT4D's “4D” component and its necessary orientation to intervention and practice, engagement with more conceptual aspects of the field has been questioned (eg, Harris, 2016; Heeks, 2001). (2017) Critical Realism and ICT4D Research. Indeed, proponents of critical realism have long argued that the logical coherence of scientific inquiry is enhanced by clarification of its philosophical foundations (Danermark et al. Critical realism and critical theory: Following on from this, it can be reasonably suggested that critical realism and critical theories of society are very often the subject of common association and, given the emancipatory research intentions present in both, this is not without foundation. Three methodological features of critical realism will be identified here: iterative retroduction, pluralism, and reflexivity. The advantages of critical realism over rival metatheoretical positions, including empiricism, social constructionism, neo-Kantianism and hermeneutics, is shown, demonstrating in particular what is called the ‘‘double-inclusiveness’’ of critical realism. But this account was sufficient to provide the foundation from which to identify the potential value of critical realism to future ICT4D research. The sentences and ideas are in your mind (and mine, as I write them), but the computer, the server, the pixels, and your eyeballs are all real objects in the real world.This is the position of philosophical realism: the view that whatever we perceive is real, truly out there. Working from this position, Scambler (2001) and others posit that social structure does not fully determine the health of individuals, but provides the conditions that constrain or facilitate health‐related activities. Critical realists also engage constructively with social theory, but they are more than just theorists. In contrast, some forms of idealism assert that no world exists apart from mind-dependent ideas and some forms of skepticism say we cannot trust our senses. Encouragingly, the ontological and epistemological tenets of CR are now widely discussed in nursing and health (Connelly 2001; McEvoy and Richards 2003; Clark et al. First, generic values including exposure of context, a contingent causality that reflects real‐world ICT4D experiences, support for use of theoretical frames in ICT4D, legitimisation of different stakeholder views, and reduction of research bias and support for ICT4D's interventionist approach and its goal of delivering international development. Critical realism, unlike other research paradigms, has particular features that facilitate political research. With the publication of papers in this edition – and in future editions, as we were fortunate to have attracted so many fine submissions for this special edition – will begin to correct that application shortage. From the turn of the 21st century, there has been an ever‐growing body of research and publication looking at the role of information and communication technologies in socio‐economic development (ICT4D). Emphasis on Causality 3. Critical realism in case study research Geoff Easton⁎ Department of Marketing, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YX, United Kingdom article info abstract Article history: Received 1 Wrong question, wrong assumption, Critical realism and health promotion: Effective practice needs an effective theory, Realism in evidence based medicine: Interpreting the randomised controlled trial, Explaining society: Critical realism in the social sciences, On the methodological, theoretical and philosophical context of health inequalities research: A critique, Realism, regularity and social explanation, Mixed method nursing studies: A critical realist critique, Events and event identity: Under‐explored topics in nursing. The congruence of critical realism can therefore be argued, given its fit with at least these main goals of development. In each part I give examples and show that mixed-methods research has good potential in conjunction with realist underpinnings. The extent and nature of the critical within critical realism is debated (Klein, 2004): for example, it could just mean critique of prior research paradigms. Many of these challenges reflect the relative shortage of detailed and clear application of critical realism to health and social issues. So, even basic notions relating to the nature of evidence‐based practice, the body, disease, randomized trials, and qualitative research can be understood in new ways (Pawson and Tilley 1997; Sayer 2000; Forbes and Wainwright 2001; Williams 2003; Connelly 2004). Second, specific value in addressing current trends in ICT4D research: The growing search for causal links between “ICT” and “D,” and the political and ethical turns in ICT4D that are spurring researchers to engage more with issues of power, rights, and justice. It’s not … Critical realism's understanding of the empirical domain allows for different perceptions of common events within an ICT4D project. Background: Healthcare research acknowledges a range of paradigms, including postpositivism and critical realist methodologies. Critical realism adopts a three‐level “stratified ontology,” as summarised in Figure 1 (Mingers, 2004a). This finds that interpretivist approaches (typically understood as a subjective worldview) and positivist approaches (typically understood as an objective worldview) dominate the current body of ICT4D research (Gomez & Day, 2013; Walsham & Sahay, 2006). Critical realism is emerging as a viable philosophica l paradigm for conducting social science research, and has been proposed as an alternative to the more prevalent paradigms of … (2013, p. 27) argue that the additional concerns of ICT4D, relating to both practice and change, create a problem: “the [ICT4D] research community is not unified on how to harmonize the difficult and sometimes competing goals of conducting experiments, producing social change, and studying the phenomena of ICT use in developing countries.” Critical realism emerges as a basis for this harmonisation, given that it encompasses research, practice, and developmental social change. As coeditors, we are very grateful to the contributors and the past and present editors for their efforts in realizing this special edition of Nursing Inquiry that explores and demonstrates methodological applications of critical realism in nursing and health. However, critical realism rejects linear notions of causality between mechanisms and events. Chapter 1 What Is Realism, and Why Should Qualitative Researchers Care? This is the position of philosophical realism: the view that whatever we perceive is real, truly out there. Furthermore, critical realists accept the possibility of complex causality, meaning that mechanisms do not always play out as the same actual events or empirically observable experiences (Bergene 2007; Clark et al. In simple terms, we can trace a historical development within social science that begins with positivism. Yet all ICT4D research is underpinned and shaped by a particular paradigm, even if the researchers themselves have not made that explicit. These limitations were recognised many years ago within the overall domain of social science. Working off-campus? Because the empirical is subject to the influence of context, then data gathered will be value laden. Critical realism posits that humans are capable of learning objectively about the world, without interference from human psychology or other subjective factors that color perception. From a positivist perspective, critical realism is criticised due to its lack of objectivity; the limitations it places on the generalisation of findings; and the “provisional, fallible, incomplete, and extendable” nature of its explanations (Dobson, 2009:808). In this paper, our aim is therefore to explore the relevance of critical realism as a philosophical paradigm for ICT4D research. Social structures operate at many sites and levels, and events experienced at the individual level may be the culmination of numerous, perhaps even countervailing, extralocal influences (Scambler 2001). realism definition: 1. a way of thinking and acting based on facts and what is possible, rather than on hopes for…. Realist Methodology: A Review Critical realists offer a set of philosophical underpinnings for social research. Data triangulation is most often operationalised by gathering data from different stakeholders, thus allowing for multiple perspectives and intersubjective insights into the events of the actual. 2006) and methods (Lipscomb 2008). Clear examples and definition of Realism. For example, in providing a third way that can address the “frequent clashes” between positivist and interpretivist paradigms within the subdiscipline (Burrell & Toyama, 2009, p. 89). Critical realism and realist research in human geography: A method or a philosophy in search of a method? This is in some ways the opposite of retroduction since it starts in the real and then seeks to match proposed mechanisms to what is observed in the empirical. For example, it is argued that the tenets of critical realism offer a strong platform for mixed method research (Lipscomb 2008) and comparative case study (Bergene 2007). Our account of critical realism could not cover all aspects in depth: readers may refer to the extensive literature on critical realism if they need to understand the many details, debates, and developments of this philosophy. Seeking the new and the critical in critical realism: Déjà vu? It’s not an illusion, or “all in our minds.” New and exciting ways of seeing and understanding old and intractable problems are often evident. As well as helping improve an individual ICT4D project or publication, this can have a broader value: “explicit recognition of research philosophies can help researchers' self‐development, their capacity to analyze the work of themselves and others, and the academic credibility of a research field” (Heeks & Bailur, 2007, p. 252). Alongside the general value of explicit use of any research paradigm, we argue two particular types of value of critical realism for ICT4D research. These paradigms—main contenders include positivism, critical realism, and interpretivism—guide research in a particular direction and “they delineate fundamentally different ways of seeing the world and carrying out research” (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2016, p. 142). It has particularly begun making its way into one of ICT4D's main cognate disciplines—information systems—since the turn of the century (eg, Mingers, 2004a; Mingers, 2004b). It supports the recent and growing search for causality within ICT4D. Many researchers are implicitly realist, - i.e. Moving from conceptual ambiguity to knowledgeable action: using a critical realist approach to studying moral distress. The domain of the actual also includes non‐events: things that do not happen as a result of underlying mechanisms. Concerns about lack of rigour in research—poor reliability and poor validity—can be found in every academic discipline. If it is to achieve greater maturity and academic recognition—for example, among its cognate disciplines such as information systems and development studies—then there will need to be greater attention to, and use of, research paradigms. The open systems view taken by critical realism is one that does not provide for causal mechanisms that operate in the same way at all times and in all contexts, but it does develop an understanding of causality. Methodologies are research approaches through which theories find praxis; they ‘structure and rationalize epistemic concepts for investigative purposes’ (Lipscomb 2008, 33). Keywords: IS Research Methods; Critical Realism; Methodology; Mixed Methods; Qualitative and Quantitative Research. But this is inherently not so (Njihia & Merali, 2013). Since these earlier criticisms, there has been some improvement, but this remains a significant shortcoming (Andersson & Hatakka, 2013). Critical realism, unlike other research paradigms, has particular features that facilitate political research. Critical realism (CR) is a relatively new paradigm position. The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties. Thus, any experience is shaped by the context of that experience: it is not objective but is contingent and transient. 2. Retroduction—literally meaning leading backwards—is a “… mode of inference in which events are explained by postulating (and identifying) mechanisms which are capable of producing them …” (Sayer, 1992, p. 107). For example, a medi This legitimises an observed reality of such projects: that different individuals and groups will express different views (Chib, Ale, & Lim, 2012), something which positivism at least can labour to encompass. The challenge for critical realists is then to devise research strategies that support identification and analysis of generative mechanisms, while avoiding such pitfalls as the epistemic fallacy. It starts with a characterization of positivism, Interpretivism and realism; and links these theories to the foundation of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The papers document the rich variety of ways in which interpretations of critical realism can be applied to methodology – efforts that illustrate both promise and challenges. But it will present an important barrier for other types of ICT4D researchers. These authors identify flaws in thinking that can potentially be embedded in methods but do not themselves provide a prescription for methods. ICT4What? We then compare these with the features of ICT4D research looking for both the generic, enduring value of critical realism in ICT4D research, and also for specific fit with current trends in the field. An example of its use in practice is presented using a case study of the development of a buyer–seller relationship after the installation of a new MIS system. Efforts to understand complex outcomes, trends, or issues must consistently address how much complexity is too much complexity given the constraints of what is currently possible, feasible, and acceptable. Ethics in an interventionist ICTD, The philosophy of critical realism: An opportunity for information systems research, Critical realism as an underlying philosophy for IS research, Encyclopedia of information science and technology, Considering failure: Eight years of ITID research, Retroduction as mixed‐methods triangulation in economic research, Using the livelihoods framework to analyze ICT applications for poverty reduction through microenterprise, Theorising networks from a critical realist standpoint, Critical realist applications in organisation and management studies, S. Fleetwood, Applying critical realism in qualitative research: Methodology meets method, A scientometric analysis of research appearing in post‐millennial IFIP 9.4 conferences, Research questions, paradigms and methods in ICT for development: content analysis of selected ICTD literature, 2000–2010, “What did Giddens and Latour ever do for us?”: Academic writings on information systems and development, Analyzing e‐government research: Perspectives, philosophies, theories, methods, and practice, Conceptualising the link between information systems and resilience: A developing country field study. Squares A and B appear to be different colours because of neighbouring contrasting squares, but actually they are the same colour. After an introduction which suggests the purpose of CR research is to discover the operation of social mechanisms and for this reason researchers are eclectic when it comes to research techniques, it is argued that, nonetheless, a small number of research designs are favoured for CR research. Enter your email address below and we will send you your username, If the address matches an existing account you will receive an email with instructions to retrieve your username. The psychosocial impact of home use medical devices on the lives of older people: a qualitative study, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1800.2011.00580.x. Social structures underlie and create the mechanisms within the domain of the real. As the “4D” element directly indicates, it is seeking to achieve progressive social change, seeking to deliver specific development goals. Epistemology: what the paradigm understands about how we construct and evaluate knowledge about that reality. and you may need to create a new Wiley Online Library account. This has been advanced by the growing use of Amartya Sen's work—with its focus on justice (Sen, 2009)—within ICT4D and by the growing interest in ethics and social justice within wider development (Oosterlaken, 2015). Chapter 13 | Critical Realism and Qualitative Research: An Introductory Overview Previous Next. 56-64. Different observers will give different accounts of events depending on, for example, their own historical experiences and their own position within social structures (Dobson, 2001). Because CR principles are usually used to underpin the developmen… Explaining mental health recovery in the context of structural disadvantage: the unrealised potential of critical realism. But for those who share recognition of critical realism's value, there can be a number of enabling actions. Please note that some file types are incompatible with some mobile and tablet devices. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies for Development, Springer, Cham, 159‐170. Analysis of past ICT4D research shows that, as a generalisation, it has been long on practice and short on intellectual depth: both theorisation and, as discussed in this paper, explicit use of research paradigms. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 20(2), 181-194. They therefore determine what we see and do not see, and what we do and do not do in ICT4D research. Then, it shows how they deal with the various aspects of the Quantitative 6. ‘Metatheory, Interdisciplinarity and Disability Research: A Critical Realist Perspective’, Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 8: 4, pp 278 – 297. 5 “multi-perspectival realism” (p. 12) to describe this. Axiology: what the paradigm does and does not value in research. Examples include commissioning of further special issues and conference tracks; training and development activities for researchers such as workshops; methodological papers such as others in this special issue explaining how to operationalise critical realism in ICT4D research; and pressure from conference chairs, editors, and reviewers for more explicit incorporation of research paradigms within the methodology sections of papers. : theories used in ICT4D research, Into the future: Themes insights and agendas for ICT4D research and practice, Context‐specific theorizing in ICT4D research, Special issue on the politics of ICT for development, Unveiling the modernity bias: A critical examination of the politics of ICT4D, Realist social theory: The morphogenetic approach, Using stakeholder theory to analyze telecenter projects, Scientific realism and human emancipation, Reclaiming reality: A critical introduction to contemporary philosophy, Digital technologies for democratic governance in Latin America, ICTD interventions: Trends over the last decade, Proceedings of the fifth international conference on information and communication technologies and development, Multi‐stakeholder perspectives influencing policy‐research‐practice, Perspectives on ICTD research and practice, Explaining society: Critical realism in the social sciences, See no evil? Learn more. Critical realism therefore asks of its researchers that they and their research participants be reflexive: “a dynamic process of interaction within and between our selves and our participants, and the data that inform decisions, actions and interpretations at all stages of research” (Etherington, 2004, p. 36). We should also mention here retrodiction (note the difference in spelling to retroduction), which is “the application of previously identified mechanisms to the explanation of an outcome in a new setting” (Wynn & Williams, 2012, p. 2012). Epistemologically, CR provides principles that can be applied by researchers developing theoretical explanations about phenomena in the world. A potential danger of taking a more political perspective on ICT4D is that research may be overly structuralist: focusing only on social structures of power and ignoring the agency of individual and collective human actors. **** It justifies the study of any situation, regardless of the numbers of research units involved, but only if the process involves thoughtful in depth research with An example ICT4D‐related mechanism would be an information infrastructure of technology and people in a country that attracts digital service providers, who create new services and thus attract more users, thereby strengthening the information infrastructure and creating a virtuous circle (Bygstad & Munkvold, 2011). Rejecting methodological individualism as naive and reductionist allows CR to encompass complex emergence as a real entity in a realistic account of causation (Byrne, 1998). Emancipatory Social Practice. There are three strata (or layers), according to the theory: the Real, the Actual, and the Empirical. Use the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Please check your email for instructions on resetting your password. Richard Heeks is the Chair in Development Informatics at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester; and the Director of the Centre for Development Informatics (http://www.cdi.manchester.ac.uk). As Njihia and Merali (2013, p. 866) explain, critical realism “should tell us with good reason why things are as they are now and where they could be heading, based on the causal tendencies of identified generative mechanisms.”. The 'real' can not be observed and exists independent from human perceptions, theories, and constructions. ADAPT Centre, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. He says that world poses two reality i.e. For example, Bhaskar points to the ‘epistemic fallacy’ that arises from the conflation of the epistemological (what is or can be known about a phenomenon) with the ontological (the entirety of a phenomenon). One of the most explicit explanations has come from Archer (1995) and the notion of morphogenesis, a cycle of three phases: “(a) the existing structure that shapes but does not determine actions that are about to take place; (b) social interaction, which in turn leads to; (c) structural elaboration that either changes [‘morphogenesis’] or reproduces [‘morphostasis’] the social structure” (Ram, Edwards, Jones, Kiselinchev, & Muchenje, 2014, p. 465). §§ Critical realism, a philosophical framework originally developed by Roy Bhaskar in the 1970s, represents a relatively new approach to research generally and to nursing research in particular. (2002). Critical Realism (CR) is a branch of philosophy that distinguishes between the 'real' world and the 'observable' world. From these philosophical origins, critical realism has spread into use in a number of academic disciplines. Specifically, CR emerged from the vision of realising an adequate r ealist philosophy of science, of social science, and of critique. While individual goals vary, foundational orientations of the Sustainable Development Goals are towards transformation: changing underlying systems of development; and towards inclusion: addressing both symptoms and causes of inequality (Heeks, 2014a). The strengths of critical realism is often described in contrast to the paradigms of positivism and interpretivism. This is, of course, precisely the ontological perspective of critical realism. Number of times cited according to CrossRef: Clarifying Key Terms and Philosophical Foundations of Transaction Cost Economics. Facilitators of prenatal care in an exemplar urban clinic. It contrasts with the determinism of positivism (and its logical impossibility of denying the politics of research and observation while researching politics) and interpretivism's struggles to recognise social structure or the way in which power constitutes beliefs (Bevir & Rhodes, 2005; Torgerson, 1986). It represents a combination of views that contrast with those associated with traditional positivist and interpretivist positions 19,20,21]. But there is a central thread within many writings on critical realism that associate it with critical theory (Bhaskar, 1989). Toward Behavioral Transaction Cost Economics. There are frequent concerns about bias in ICT4D research and the way in which it can undermine both reliability and validity. Use the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. But what is created also transcends, surpasses, negates, (i.e. use the term “critical realism” in a broad sense to include a range of positions incorporat-ing this view, including Bhaskar’s. After noting challenges of applying critical realism, we draw final conclusions and thoughts about possible actions; hoping readers can then make a more informed choice for themselves on whether or not to follow a critical realist path in their own research. As discussed above, critical realism is values driven and orients not only towards understanding how structures and mechanisms constrain development but also towards interventions that bring about emancipatory change. By contrast, critical realism's methodological pluralism and triangulation force multiple viewpoints and data sources and methods to be incorporated. Hence, for example, it can be seen as specifically compatible with action research (Ackroyd & Karlsson, 2014) of which one can find a number of examples within the ICT4D field (Chepken, Mugwanya, Blake, & Marsden, 2012). Critical Realism (CR) is a philosophy of science that is based around a number of ontological principles. One reason is that this work comes from a positivist tradition where there is no inherent need or basis for examining causality beyond the sense “of causality as a constant conjunction of events” (Smith, 2005, p. 31). Interpretivism seeks to address respondent and researcher bias by embracing them as integral to its worldview. Richard Heeks, Centre for Development Informatics, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. This means recognising the way in which the social structures and mechanisms of the real domain can sometimes serve to generate events and processes that are oppressive and outcomes that are unequal. Steve Vincent Joe O'Mahoney. These are issues facing any user of critical realism, but we can also reflect on challenges specific to the ICT4D research domain. But the role of ICT4D goes beyond the unspecific notion of practice. Importantly, for nursing and health sciences research, although generative mechanisms are embedded within social structures and are contextually contingent, they always work through people’s actions (Moren and Blom 2003). His interest is in understanding ICT, and specifically mHealth, adoption, and use from a variety of critical realist and interpretivist ontological perspectives. Is this a problem? In: Choudrie J., Islam M., Wahid F., Bass J., Priyatma J. We noted above that explicit consideration of research paradigms is rare in ICT4D publications. Problem‐focused approaches that emphasize interdisciplinarity and complexity have fostered work that marries philosophy, method, and theory to understand and address the important health and social issues. The disciplines, single methods, or narrow interest groups that once appeared to offer panaceas to problems are now seen as the source of epistemological constraints that limit capacity to understand and address societies’ ills. Political theory often conceives power in terms of underlying structures and mechanisms that shape but do not determine (eg, Clegg, 1979 ; Hearn, 2012 ). Critical realism can therefore engage with one of the main tensions in ICT4D research: between difference and commonality (Burrell & Toyama, 2009). Drawing examples from a study … Molecular Logic and Computational Synthetic Biology. 's words, critical realism: - "defends a strongly realist ontology that there is an existing, causally efficacious, world independent of our knowledge. It combines a general philosophy of science (transcendental realism) with a philosophy of social science (critical naturalism). The issue of the generalisability of case research is then discussed, managerial … But beyond merely understanding the world, the critical of critical realism inspires changing the world through engagement with practice: “developing ways of working with practitioners to help them understand their situation, identify barriers and opportunities for change and implement solutions” (Ram et al., 2014, p. 465). 2002), it is often the task of researchers to develop methodological approaches that fit their situation by selecting and adapting methods that align the philosophical tenets of CR with the substantive focus of inquiry (Yeung 1997). Within the domain of the real sit generative mechanisms: “causal structures that generate observable events” (Henfridsson & Bygstad, 2013, p. 911). We concisely review the main features of critical realism: its ontological realism combined with epistemological relativism; its iterative, pluralist, and reflexive methodology; and its emancipatory values. It forces that involvement with ICT4D context to focus on what is present—relations, systems, ideas, and resources—rather than conceiving development contexts solely in terms of lack or absence (Njihia & Merali, 2013). 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Ontology: what the paradigm understands to be the nature of reality. In: The SAGE Handbook of ... Show page numbers . It takes an open systems view of the world in which multiple mechanisms intersect, thus creating a “contingent causality” that is context dependent (Smith, 2010). Critical realism is a philosophical theory of reality and human knowledge. His research focuses on technological innovation and an exploration of the wider implications associated with the social, cultural, and political aspects of the implementation and use of ICT in the Global South (ICT4D). ‡‡ At a basic level, the emancipatory impulses of critical realism resonate with the ideas of ethics, and critical realism would thus be supportive of work on ICT4D and ethics. But it struggles to deal with the other biases. Epistemological Dimension is Transitive 5. It will require express intervention, say of ICT4D journal editors, to encourage greater engagement with research paradigms, developing a more fertile ground for critical realism—among other paradigms—to flourish. At what point should critical realists stop delving deeper and deeper into underlying mechanisms, generative causations, and exceptions to causative rules? But at a deeper level, one might argue that the foundations of rights, ethics, and justice in the ICT4D field lie within the structures of society: that these all derive from and are largely determined by social structures (Heeks & Renken, 2018). It then offers an examination of the implications of adopting a critical realist justification of case research and continues with an example of a critical realist case analysis involving the creation of a buyer–seller relationship through the (problematic) implementation of a new Management Information System (MIS). Although potentially a one‐time movement, in practice, retroduction is more generally understood as part of an iterative cycle in which mechanisms are postulated from existing data, evidenced or otherwise through gathering of new data, and supported or revised or rejected iteratively during the analysis of that data (Easton, 2010). There are certainly arguments, beyond use of any specific approach, about the general value of recognising the paradigm we use in our research: all researchers make implicit assumptions about the nature of the world they research, and being explicit about those by tying them to a research paradigm can help expose assumptions and improve consistency and validity of their work (Myers, 1997). Naïve realism, also known as direct realism, is a philosophy of mind rooted in a common sense theory of perception that claims that the senses provide us with direct awareness of the external world. In some ways, then, retroduction is an inductive‐type approach within critical realism; retrodiction a deductive‐type approach. His current research is based in Sierra Leone and examines the role of mobile technologies in reconfiguring health systems and practices (mHealth), and an exploration of how such mobile devices are implemented, adopted, scaled, and sustained. Both political analysis and calls for more political analysis relating to ICT4D generally (Andrade & Urquhart. You’re looking at a computer screen. ICT4D is not such a field: from its very definition, it is oriented to practice, and it centres around ICT‐based interventions in developing countries (Marathe, Chandra, Kameswaran, Kano, & Ahmed, 2016). Alternatively, approaches that are presented as critical realist have been developed. The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties. Number of times cited according to CrossRef: What works, for whom and under what circumstances? This is especially relevant in ICT4D today. Dodson et al. 6—PART I A REALIST STANCE FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Campbell (2002) argued that “all scientists are epistemological constructivists and relativists” in the sense that they believe that both the ontological world and the worlds of ideology, values, etc. From an interpretive perspective, it is the realism of critical realism that is misguided. Archer (2003, 2) argues that structure and agency are ‘distinct strata of reality, as the bearers of quite different properties and powers’ and calls for attention to the interplay between these two strata. Working off-campus? It engages with underlying structure: helping to expose causal mechanisms and, for example, facilitating use of theoretical frames that connect ICTs to development impact. But additionally, it seeks research to be values driven: specifically driven by the values of emancipation. This article provides a concrete example of applied qualitative research using CR as a philosophical and methodological framework. Data justice for development: What would it mean? Critical realism is a philosophical approach to understanding science developed by Roy Bhaskar (1944–2014). Marginalization of indigenous voices in the information age: a case study of cell phones in the rural Congo, The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. And this will also be true of the research process itself. Philosophy and quality? Methodology: what research strategy, methods, and techniques the paradigm uses in order to gather and analyse data. In Mingers et al. There is little overt engagement with research paradigms in ICT4D research, but what there is shows a dominance of positivism and interpretivism. But that interest will only sustain if ICT4D research can meet the standards of those journals. There is much less discussion of research philosophy in the other main cognate discipline of ICT4D—development studies—and little or no explicit discussion of critical realism (Heeks & Wall, 2017). Yet, researchers trained either in philosophy or method must cross these traditional boundaries to fairly and coherently express numerous philosophical tenets in the nuts‐and‐bolts of methods. Alethia: Vol. This is particularly timely because of its relevance to what we might call the “ethical turn” in ICT4D. In Section 2 of the paper, we outline the main features of critical realism. Introduction Over the last couple of decades pluralism in information systems research has increased significantly attracting a lot of attention from researchers and decision-makers in the field. In turn, though, interpretivist studies like this have been criticised, for example, by those who saw interpretivism as failing to provide causal and generalisable explanations of social phenomena (Bevir & Rhodes, 2005; Smith, 2005). Examples of critical realism in a sentence, how to use it. Notwithstanding the growing use of Critical Realism, we acknowledge that is not easy ontology to apply. (2017). It’s also very important for projects of democratization [making things democratic] and indeed all the social projects which involve Critical realism consistently points to the epistemological implications of implicit ontological commitments in sociological research. These understandings can in turn be used to problematize past research questions (Clark and Thompson 2010) and generate new directions for research based on richer conceptualization (Angus et al. It therefore means moving back across the domains from the empirical via the actual to the real and represents the way by which the domains are connected within active research. If you do not receive an email within 10 minutes, your email address may not be registered, This has likely arisen to reflect the growing role of ICTs in politics in developing countries (eg, Breuer & Welp, By continuing to browse this site, you agree to its use of cookies as described in our, orcid.org/http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4551-2208, orcid.org/http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5859-4425, I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of Use, Critical realism, research techniques, and research designs, Studying organizations using critical realism: A practical guide, Telecentres use in rural communities and women empowerment: case of Western Cape, Information and communication technologies for development: ICT4D 2017, How should technology‐mediated organizational change be explained? Obgleich er einige Gemeinsamkeiten mit der Position des Kritischen Realismus aufweist, ist der Critical Realism ein eigener, enger bestimmter … But a broader solution—and arguably a necessary foundation for any theoretical accommodation of structure and agency—would be to employ a research paradigm that allows a role for both structure and agency. The world as we know and understand it is constructed from our perspectives and experiences, through what is 'observable'. It triangulates: reducing the bias of individual ICT4D respondents, researchers, or methods. Archer at al (2016) reads as a manifesto for critical realism. Similarly, the techniques of inquiry usually associated with ethnography are amenable to linkage with critical realist foundations to uncover and illuminate social relations of health care ( Porter 2002 ). Critical realism: An important theoretical perspective for midwifery research. Hence, outcomes do not take the form of strict regularities, but are manifested as semi‐regular patterns – or demi‐regularities (Lawson 1998, 149). More generally, critical realism's mandated reflexivity forces ongoing introspection about the nature of the research process and its overall rigour including biases of context, respondents, and researcher. (Granberg, 1976:1)” ABSTRACT The aim of the paper is to indicate a metatheoretical perspective on interdisciplinary research which includes some important ontological assumptions and … Given the relative absence of explicit critical realism in ICT4D research, and the lack of discussion about research philosophy, we perceived a knowledge gap. The focus on critical realism was a useful adjunct for my own research and I would have no hesitation in recommending this to students also interested in taking a critical realism approach to qualitative research projects. Realism refers to a range of ontological and epistemological positions within which research may be conducted. It is to the specific value of critical realism that we therefore now turn. For an ICT4D‐oriented application of retrodiction, see Heeks and Ospina (2018). and you may need to create a new Wiley Online Library account. 2002). Critical Realism by Andrew Withell 1. The second timely value of critical realism is its relevance to what we might call the “political turn” in ICT4D. Critical realists also engage constructively with social theory, but they are more than just theorists. 2002). Identifying Generative Mechanisms in a Mobile Health (mHealth) Project in Sierra Leone: A Critical Realist Framework for Retroduction. TAPUPASM as an approach to rigour in critical realist research. Critical realism (CR) is a useful philosophical framework for social science; however, little guidance is available on which precise methods – including methods of data collection, coding, and analysis – are best suited to applied CR research. Critical realism (herein CR) is a movement which began in British philosophy and sociology following the founding work of Roy Bhaskar, Margaret Archer and others. However, if events and mechanisms often exceed our empirical grasp, how can we know whether our research methods reveal them – or produce them (Kemp and Holmwood 2003)? The Sage handbook of organizational research, Critical intent & practice in ICT4D: a typology of ICT4D initiatives, Method in social science: A realist approach, Critical realism and the limits to critical social science, Reconsidering ICT for development research: Critical realism, empowerment, and the limitations of current research, Enhancing human resource development through ICT, Testable theory development for small‐n studies: Critical realism and middle‐range theory, Agency and social networks: Strategies of action in a social structure of position, opposition, and opportunity, A brief critique of the standard view of ICT4D, Between knowledge and politics: Three faces of policy analysis, Desperately seeking systems thinking in ICT4D, Foreword: Special issue on information systems in developing countries, Research on information systems in developing countries: current landscape and future prospects, Taking critical ontology seriously: Implications for political science methodology, Handbook of research methods and applications in political science, Causal explanation in the coordinating process: A critical realist case study of federated IT governance structures, Principles for conducting critical realist case study research in information systems, Methodological implications of critical realism for mixed‐methods research. Recognition of this continues to grow in response to the intractable nature of the most burdensome of health and social challenges. As already discussed, ICT4D research is seen to suffer from a lack of credible investigation into causality (May & Diga, 2015), something which undermines internal research validity. A Rethink of the Nature and Value of IT Assets – Critical Realism Approach. Learn about our remote access options, Centre for Development Informatics, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Qualitative Research (1997, p. 133). 2. In so doing, it may be able to improve rigour and mitigate biases. Critical realism also forces reflection on the value of ICT4D research; something, again, that is a concern of those seeking to develop the field (Dearden, 2013; Krauss & Turpin, 2013). The reason for this is simple. Judging from the number of ICT4D‐relevant special issue calls in high‐ranking information systems journals from 2010 onwards, there is growing interest in ICT4D from at least this broader discipline. Others mark some subtle differences; eg, Fletcher (2017) argues abduction works backward from empirical data to theoretical concepts while retroduction works backward from empirical data to causal mechanisms and contextual conditions; those latter being potentially understood or viewed through the lens of abductively identified theory. ). Critical realism theory Critical Realism (CR) is a philosophy of science that is based around a number of ontological principles. His research interests are data‐intensive development, e‐resilience and e‐sustainability, digital development, and the digital economy in developing countries. Of critique significant shortcoming ( Andersson & Hatakka, 2013 ) acknowledge that is misguided be values driven specifically... 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