Getting Real About Critical Realist Interviewing: Five Principles to Guide Practice

Abstract

Critical realism refers to a broad project to realize a post-positivist social science. At its best, it responds to the challenges thrown down by social constructionist critiques of positivist science, while also allowing us to make interrogable claims about reality—a priority for many working to expose and eradicate structural oppression. In the social sciences, interviews remain one of the foremost methods through which researchers generate data to inform our understanding of reality. In this article, however, we argue that for critical realism to deliver on its promise as a philosophy of science for critical social scientists, we need theoretically sound guidance on what a critical realist approach to research interviewing might look like. Currently, this guidance is lacking. Through a systematic analysis of prominent qualitative research interviewing textbooks, we found that critical realism is ignored, mischaracterized, and underdeveloped. In response, we offer five principles, rooted in critical realism’s key tenets, that can guide researchers as they design, conduct, and evaluate critical realist interview studies. These principles are: (1) craft interview protocols to generate data that can inform answers to ontological research questions; (2) keep in view the interview as social practice throughout the study; (3) treat interview data as both interactively achieved co-constructions and as verifiable evidence for real phenomena; (4) be guided and informed by an aim to reduce suffering and promote social justice; and (5) demonstrate reflexivity as ongoing self-awareness.