Research Methodology of Critical Realism: Theoretical Foundations, Process and Implementation

Abstract

Criticisms of the dominant paradigms of the science, especially the positivism and the interpretive paradigms, have intensified efforts to find alternative paradigms. One of the paradigms that has emerged in this regard is critical realism. This paradigm has created a reconciliation between the two rival paradigms by borrowing ontology from positivism and epistemology from interpretivism. Critical realism claims that can lead us to deeper understanding of the phenomena and it`s generative mechanisms by stratified ontology of it, that considers reality in three empirical, actual and real layers. But despite of the positive role of this paradigm in better understanding of the phenomena, methodology of it is still unclear and a few researches have been done in this paradigm. Therefore, in this article, after introducing the concepts, assumptions and theoretical foundations of critical realism, an attempt has been made to study its methodology from the perspective of different researchers. Finally, a practical example of research conducted under the banner of this paradigm is described to shed light on research in critical realism.

Keywords

• realism
• critical realism
• mechanism
• stratified ontology- methodology