Realism and Social Science

“Thus, the use of vignettes makes it possible to combine both the direct interview method proposed by Manzano (2016) and Pawson (1996) with the more indirect method proposed by Sayer (2000).”

“…also occurs vertically when pre-existing structures (operating at more basic levels of a program e.g., socio-historical, political, educational policy), with causal powers and under certain conditions, activate mechanisms to produce an e ff ect, event, or outcome (Sayer, 2000), like a program.”

“As a researcher who has lived in both the western and eastern parts of the world and originally being from Turkey, I do not take any perspective as given, and my approach is grounded in critical realism (Sayer, 2000).”

“…is constructed and dependent on individual perceptions, but it goes beyond social constructionism in that it also argues that knowledge and mechanisms endure independently of individuals (Sayer 2000; see Couch [2022] for a detailed discussion on critical realism and education policy critique).”

“CPA appreciates the significance of context, or ‘time, space, activity, and concept’ (Dean et al. 2006, 10), from which a policy is derived and into which it intends to intervene (Pawson 2006; Sayer 2000).”

“The single intrinsic case study approach (Sayer, 2000) is widely accepted as a valid research design for this type of study, the purpose of which is to provide in-depth insights into underlying processes and mechanisms that have not been properly discussed in existing theory, thereby contributing…”

“Jonathan Haidt’s inclusion of sociology in formulating his theories is one example (Haidt, 2012), together with sociological adoption of critical realist philosophy (Gorski, 2012, 2013; Mooney, 2014; A. Sayer, 2000; Smith, 2010).”

“Social structures and actors are linked by causal mechanisms with emergent properties, which may be activated under certain circumstances but not necessarily (Sayer 2000).”

“Ontologically speaking, critical realism espouses that social phenomena such as institutional logics exist irrespective of having been explicitly identified and/or acted upon (Fleetwood, 2005; Sayer, 2000).”

“Framing the research as an emancipatory social science has a specific critical focus, identifying possible feasible interventions to address the issues raised (Sayer, 2000).”

“The ‘realist’ in the ‘realistic illusion’ is here more in line with the naïve realism of empiricism, and sharply at odds with the philosophical position of critical realism (see e.g. Danermark et al. 2003; Sayer 2008; Næss 2016).”

“That being the case, explanations of such events or experiences transpire in terms of tendencies and not truths (Sayer, 2000).”

“We mostly rely on the works of Bhaskar (1975/2008, 1979/2015); Boyd (2002); Danemark, Ekstrom, Jakobsen, and Karlsson (2002); Manicas (2006); Manicas and Secord (1983, 1984); and Sayer (1992, 2000) in presenting this paradigm.”

“…are other important CR assumptions to understand, I have come to view the generative mechanism as the core idea of CR. Bhaskar, the progenitor of critical realism himself, has called the generative mechanism the “ lynchpin ” of critical realism (Bhaskar, 2002; Groff, 2004, p. 138; Sayer, 2000).”

“Due to the inherent nature of the “open systems” of the social world and of attempts to capture it, all social research inevitably experiences the problem of uncertainty (Sayer, 2000, p. 15).”

“…accept a notion of ontology that is ‘flat’ and one-dimensional, regardless of whether its focus was on ‘causes’ or ‘reasons’, and instead they came up with the idea of ‘stratified ontology’, in which social phenomena emerge out of each other on various levels of social reality (Sayer 2000, 10–28).”

“The research stance is critical realist (Sayer, 2000; Mingers 2004; Bhaskar 2008).”

“My claims regarding critical realism’s potential are drawn from Bhaskar and Hawke (2017), Buch-Hansen and Nielsen (2020), Jamali (2020), Price and Lotz-Sisteka (2016), Price (2023), and Sayer (1999, 2019).”

“Informed by critical realism (Sayer, 2000) as an ontological orientation, the CDA seeks to analyse the discursive and non-discursive aspects of change within doctoral structures under excellence-driven schemes.”

“Adhering to a critical realist paradigm [92], we assume that reality exists with a degree of independence from conceptual frameworks used to understand it, and that some knowledge PLOS ONE Healthcare communication about unestablished side effects of the copper IUD”

“…(as well as anti-realist versions of social constructionism) seem to preclude the possibility of explaining social phenomena by reference to the causal powers of social structures, which are regarded as central by critical realists (e.g. Elder-Vass 2010; 2012; Kaidesoja 2013a; Sayer 2000).”

“Although this study uses an interpretive design, which typically rejects exploration of causal interpretation, the findings of this study will be contextualised (Sayer, 2000) within a synthesis work package in the wider research programmme.”

“A critical realist research paradigm (Bhaskar, 1978; Sayer, 2002) informed the study’s philosophical assumptions.”

“…possibility of a greater interdisciplinary dialogue between psychology and sociology contributing to the resolution of the tension between a focus on individual agency and a focus on social structure, which is the goal of the application of critical realist thinking to social science (Sayer 2000).”

“This is something he also hints at in his previous article when he quotes (Van Heur 2010a, p. 433) Sayer’s cautionary remarks on the ‘misattribution of causality’ (Sayer 2000, p. 7).”

“This alerts us to how varying ‘tendencies’ of control may become combined to produce ‘diverse determinations’ of social action (Sayer, 2000).”

“We take a realist methodological approach for the research in which abstract disciplinary concepts are brought into conversation with the qualitative empirical data to create theoretical meaning (Lourie and Rata 2016; McPhail and Lourie 2017; Sayer 2000).”

“The approach of this article may be described as cautiously skeptical, drawing on aspects of critical realism (Bhaskar, 1975; Sayer, 2000).”

“…on determining the fundamental explanation of what causes events to happen and is based on the critical realist view of causation: Events arise from the workings of mechanisms which derive from the structures of objects, and they take place within geo-historical contexts (Sayer, 2000, p. 15).”

“…to equate the (non)existence of street children with how they are (re) constructed in discourse is to risk the ‘epistemological fallacy’ (Sayer, 2000, p. 90) of harder versions of social constructionism, where awareness that knowledge of the lives of those like street children is…”

“…sense, and conclusions must always be open to revision in the light of improved data or analysis (the “fallibilist” stance on knowledge), it is possible and necessary to identify and defend the most plausible explanation on any given topic based on the evidence existing at that time (Sayer 2000).”

“…from epistemology, in other words, emphasises the distinction between (1) the “intransitive” dimension of knowledge, or the being of objects of scientific investigation, and (2) the “transitive” dimension of knowledge, or the socially constructed knowledge of those objects (Sayer 2000, 10–11).”

“He claims that there are three types of perceiving reality; the ‘real’, ‘actual’ and ‘empirical’(Sayer, 2000), while Houston names the corresponding realities as ‘empirical’, ‘actual’ and ‘causal’ (Houston, 2001:850).”

“The study employed a critical realist epistemological position (Bhaskar, 1978; Sayer, 2000).”

“Likewise, its acceptance of the existence of real structures and mechanisms that can be truth-tested provides a response to criticisms of constructivism that it is too descriptively particularist (D’Souza 2010; Parra Heredia 2018; Sayer 2000).”

“Through combining the researcher ’ s knowledge of social reality with their ability to abstract, counterfactual questions enable the researcher to “ distinguish between what can be the case and what must be the case, given certain preconditions ’ (Sayer, 2000, p. 16).”

“In critical realist terms, Islam occupies the intransitive dimension of knowledge (Sayer, 2000).”

“We follow Sayer (2000) and later Olsen’s (2004 ) emphasis on the realist tradition to social science research that advocates an integrated approach to both method and data triangulation.”

“A critical realist epistemological stance was assumed throughout, whereby people's experiences were recognised as equally real and meaningful as physical and behavioural phenomena (Sayer, 2000).”

“In this sense CR has been described as a “weak” form of social constructivism, to be contrasted with the stronger version (of ultra-relativistic perspectivism) now common in postmodern social science (Bhaskar et al., 2018; Sayer, 1999).”

“( 2000, p. 237) The first stage of ‘discernment’ related to two themes in the data in relation to developing personal projects: ‘career aspirations’ or ‘doing it for me’ (the self).”

“Critical realism is, rather, a process of uncovering false beliefs to discover what ontologically is, which requires passing value judgments and acting to remove the sources of false belief (Sayer 2000), in this case about the inculcated practices of assessment that perpetuate disempowerment.”

“Critical realism recognises the complexity of social phenomena, combining methods where plausible explanations are the goal, using judgmental rationality to compare and assess competing theories based on their explanatory adequacy or power [57].”

“This qualitative case study was guided by critical realism, an approach that takes a realist ontology and a constructivist epistemology to posit that individuals create unique, imperfect, but credible understandings of an objective reality (Sayer, 2000).”

“Recent developments in CR as a research paradigm have focused on the concept of “practical adequacy” (Sayer 1992, 2000); that is, it can use methods as suited to purpose.”

“…delivers a path between the extremes of positivism (the search for objective truth) and interpretivism © 2020 NASEN British Journal of Special Education Volume 47 Number 2 2020 175 (the belief that there are no objective and extrinsic facts within society) (Sayer, 2000; Tekin & Kotaman, 2013).”

“In addition to large survey studies aiming to generalise over large populations, more detailed typologies have been built based on interviews (e.g. Lähdesmäki and Matilainen 2014; Takala et al. 2017a), aiming to understand how different issues are connected to each other (Sayer 2000, pp. 19–22).”

“As expressed by Sayer (2000, p. 12), A crucial implication of this ontology is the recognition of the possibility that powers may exist unexercised, and hence that what has happened or been known to have happened does not exhaust what could happen or have happened.”

“The “re-vindication” of ontology as distinct from epistemology invokes the distinction between (1) the “intransitive” dimension of knowledge, or the being of objects of scientific investigation; and (2) the “transitive” dimension of knowledge, or the socially constructed knowledge of those objects ([16], pp.”

“…agency and are relatively silent on structure; much archival research falls into the trap of reducing the relevant context to the interactions among key actors, ignoring such matters as economic change and changes in public opinion, and the structures within which agents act” (Sayer, 2000: 6).”

“The explanation is described as being “practically adequate” for further analysis (Sayer 2000, Lawson 2006); the best available account rather than a rule that can be proven.”

“See also Sayer (1997, 90): ‘[Social constructionism] in its strong form also claims that objects or referents of knowledge are nothing more than social constructions.’”

“broader connections between physical reality, understood worlds, space and time (e.g., see Dear, 1988; Sayer, 2000; Smith, 2006; Soja, 1989).”

“As we have begun to explore, one of the tensions in critical pedagogy, and consequently within youth work and community work, is between essentialist and nonessentialist accounts of human nature, community and identity (Seal and Frost 2014). Whether humans have an innate nature is also one of the most potent manifesta…”

“Throughout the whole analysis process, a critical realist epis-temological stance was assumed, whereby the perspectives of the participants were conceptualised as being as real and meaningful as physical and behavioural phenomena [25].”

“Critical realism strengthens this by insisting that institutional designs possess real causal powers irreducible to individual intentions, while remaining open to ethical critique and reform (Bhaskar, 2008; Archer, 1995; Sayer, 2000).”

“I apply a scientific realist case study approach, which is defined as the investigation of a particular social context in order to generate context-dependent and holistic empirical explanations based on abductive explanatory factors (Easton, 2010; Jackson, 2011: 200; Bhaskar, 2008; Sayer, 2000).”

“We gathered information from the perceptions, expectations, and needs of employee–athletes/coaches (i.e., employee–sportspersons) based on a critical realist epistemology, which allowed us to gain insights and a good understanding of the area under investigation (Maxwell 2013; Sayer 1999).”

“Put simply, knowledge is a product of social interactions (Maton, 2014a; Maton and Moore, 2010; Sayer, 2020).”

“33 34 The causal links between CMOs are the fundamental principles of the realist research methodology.”

“We employ a critical realist analysis to identify what has been termed the real, actual, and empirical levels of reality (36).”

“The theoretical process in this project is mainly shaped by the work of Bhaskar (1979), Archer (2000, 2003, 2011) and Sayer (2000, 2011) on structure and agency; Bhaskar et al. (2018) on interdisciplinary and social stratification (Danermark, 2019); and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory of…”

“A post-positivist critical realist epistemology is applied in the work to determine the social and material relations between aspects and actors of relevance, such as material contexts and social relations (Sayer, 2000, 2010).”

“A real-ist methodology places emphasis on disciplinary concepts as explanatory tools for identifying both the research problem and explaining it (Sayer, 2000).”

“As is the case with any form of scientific analysis, SLRs are theoryladen (Sayer, 2000b; Bhaskar, 2008); thus, their relevance and contribution are contingent upon the theoretical perspective that one takes.”

“…ontological and epistemological foundations of their study (e.g. Charmaz 1990; Charmaz and Thornberg 2021; Howard-Payne 2016), we adopt a position of critical realism by assuming that the patterns we observe in the data bring us closer to understanding reality (Howard-Payne 2016; Sayer 1992; 2000).”