ERIC Number: EJ1291705
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2643-7996
EISSN: N/A
Guidelines for Conducting a Critical Realist Case Study
International Journal of Adult Education and Technology, v12 n2 Article 2 p18-30 2021
The case study is a widely used methodology among qualitative researchers irrespective of their philosophical orientation. While positivist and interpretive philosophies are the two most popular research philosophies across diverse research fields, critical realism offers a third alternative. Critical realism is a research philosophy that assumes the existence of an independent reality but also accepts that there may be varied interpretations of it due to a difference in context. Mechanisms are the theoretical building blocks of critical realism and presence, absence, or interaction of certain mechanisms may result in the presence or absence of certain events. However, limited guidelines are available on conducting a critical realist case study. This paper fills this gap by providing some practical guidelines on how a CR-based case study may be planned and executed. Practical guidelines are offered for framing the research question, data collection, writing a narrative, coding, and explanation building while following a critical realist philosophy.
Descriptors: Realism, Critical Theory, Case Studies, Guidelines, Data Collection, Coding, Writing (Composition), Qualitative Research
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A