Book•
Realism and Social Science
28 Oct 1999-
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce Critical Realism and the limits to critical social science Ethics, and discuss the importance of space and space in social science and space and social theory.
Abstract: PART ONE: INTRODUCING CRITICAL REALISM Introduction Key Features of Critical Realism in Practice A Brief Introduction PART TWO: POSTMODERN-REALIST ENCOUNTERS Introduction Realism for Sceptics Postmodernism and the Three 'PoMo' Flips Essentialism, Social Constructionism and Beyond PART THREE: Social Science and Space Introduction Space and Social Theory Geohistorical Explanation and Problems of Narrative PART FOUR: CRITICAL REALISM: FROM CRITIQUE TO NORMATIVE THEORY Introduction Critical Realism and the Limits to Critical Social Science Ethics Unbound For a Normative Turn in Social Theory
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TL;DR: In this article, a four-volume set brings together seminal articles on the subject from varied sources, creating an invaluable roadmap for scholars seeking to consolidate their knowledge of CDA, and of its continued development.
Abstract: Since the late 1980s, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has become a well-established field in the social sciences. However, in contrast with some branches of linguistics, CDA is not a discrete academic discipline in the traditional sense, with a fixed set of research methods. The manifold roots of CDA lie in a myriad of disciplines including rhetoric, anthropology, philosophy and cognitive science, to name a few. This four-volume set brings together seminal articles on the subject from varied sources, creating an invaluable roadmap for scholars seeking to consolidate their knowledge of CDA, and of its continued development. Sculpted and edited by a leading voice in the field, this work covers the interdisciplinary roots, the most important approaches and methodologies of CDA, as well as applications in other disciplines in an updated and comprehensive way. Structured thematically, the four volumes cover a wide range of aspects and considerations: Volume One: Histories, Concepts and Interdisciplinarity Volume Two: Theoretical Approaches and Methodologies Volume Three: 'Doing CDA' - Case Studies Volume Four: Applications and Perspectives - New Trends in CDA
4,972 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines several methodological issues associated with combining qualitative and quantitative methods by comparing the increasing interest in this topic with the earlier renewal of interest in qualitative research during the 1980s, and advocates a "pragmatic approach" as a new guiding paradigm in social science research methods.
Abstract: This article examines several methodological issues associated with combining qualitative and quantitative methods by comparing the increasing interest in this topic with the earlier renewal of interest in qualitative research during the 1980s. The first section argues for the value of Kuhn’s concept of paradigm shifts as a tool for examining changes in research fields such as social science research methodology. The next two sections consider the initial rise of the “metaphysical paradigm” that justified the renewed interest in qualitative research and the subsequent problems that have encouraged efforts to replace that paradigm. The final section of the paper advocates a “pragmatic approach” as a new guiding paradigm in social science research methods, both as a basis for supporting work that combines qualitative and quantitative methods and as a way to redirect our attention to methodological rather than metaphysical concerns.
2,637 citations
Additional excerpts
...Yet it was easier for Guba and Lincoln to make their proconstructivist points by using a caricature of positivism, rather than dealing with the more serious and subtle challenges posed by realism, despite the importance of the realist position within social science research (e.g., Sayer, 2000)....
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TL;DR: These guidelines elaborate on three important aspects of conducting mixed methods research: appropriateness of a mixed methods approach; development of meta-inferences; and assessment of the quality of Meta-Inferences.
Abstract: Mixed methods research is an approach that combines quantitative and qualitative research methods in the same research inquiry. Such work can help develop rich insights into various phenomena of interest that cannot be fully understood using only a quantitative or a qualitative method. Notwithstanding the benefits and repeated calls for such work, there is a dearth of mixed methods research in information systems. Building on the literature on recent methodological advances in mixed methods research, we develop a set of guidelines for conducting mixed methods research in IS. We particularly elaborate on three important aspects of conducting mixed methods research: (1) appropriateness of a mixed methods approach; (2) development of meta-inferences (i.e., substantive theory) from mixed methods research; and (3) assessment of the quality of meta-inferences (i.e., validation of mixed methods research). The applicability of these guidelines is illustrated using two published IS papers that used mixed methods.
1,978 citations
Cites methods from "Realism and Social Science"
...They employed a concurrent mixed methods approach in which trust (i.e., dependent variable) was measured using a quantitative approach and various aspects of behavioral control (i.e., independent variables) were assessed using a qualitative approach....
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TL;DR: The power of social science and its methods is discussed in this paper, where the authors argue that social science can help to make social reality and social worlds, but its methods are still stuck in the enactment of nineteenth-century, nation-state-based politics.
Abstract: This paper is concerned with the power of social science and its methods. We first argue that social inquiry and its methods are productive: they (help to) make social realities and social worlds. They do not simply describe the world as it is, but also enact it. Second, we suggest that, if social investigation makes worlds, then it can, in some measure, think about the worlds it wants to help to make. It gets involved in 'ontological politics'. We then go on to show that its methods - and its politics - are still stuck in, and tend to reproduce, nineteenth-century, nation-state-based politics. How might we move social science from the enactment of nineteenth-century realities? We argue that social-and-physical changes in the world are - and need to be - paralleled by changes in the methods of social inquiry. The social sciences need to re-imagine themselves, their methods, and their 'worlds' if they are to work productively in the twenty-first century where social relations appear increasingly complex, elusive, ephemeral, and unpredictable. There are various possibilities: perhaps, for instance, there is need for 'messy' methods. But in the present paper we explore some implications of complexity theory to see whether and how this might provide productive metaphors and theories for enacting twenty-first-century realities.
1,245 citations
TL;DR: In this article, critical realism is proposed as a coherent, rigorous and novel philosophical position that not only substantiates case research as a research method but also provides helpful implications for both theoretical development and research process.
1,234 citations
Cites background from "Realism and Social Science"
...“Indeed the case study is probably best understood as an ideal type rather than a method with hard and fast rules....
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...Necessary relations are not tautologies but derive directly from the nature of the bodies involved....
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...“In both everyday life and social science, we frequently explain things by reference to causal powers” (Sayer, 2000, p.14)....
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...“Much rests on the nature of our abstractions, that is, our conceptions of particular one-sided components of the concrete object; if they divide what is indivisible, or if they conflate what are different and separable components, then problems are likely to result” (Sayer, 2000, p.19)....
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