This article explains and illustrates an approach to the design of qualitative inquiry in education using a conceptual methodology informed by a realist ontology. It is written with research novices in mind, based on two observations we have made while supervising postgraduate students. The first is that the methodology literature education students often engage with tends to focus on interpretivist-constructivist approaches. The second observation is that it can be challenging for students to find appealing and accessible material which employs realist informed methodology. To counter this we offer a general introduction to undertaking educational research informed by a realist ontology drawing on a simplified account of critical realism (CR). We illustrate the key concepts of this approach using examples from postgraduate studies in education. It is our hope that this article may stimulate wider discussion about the possibilities, development, and use of realist approaches.