Critical Realism - A simple explanation for beginners

Critical realism isn’t as difficult to understand as many people think. Here’s my simple explanation, suitable for beginners, packed full of easy, relatable analogies.

Critical realists are like the activist, social justice warrior kids in high school. They're the ones digging deep into the unfair stuff going on around them, raising awareness of injustice and discrimination. But they're not just pointing out problems; they're trying to understand how these problems impact upon people and what they can do to make things better.

In this blogpost, we're going to dive into the world of critical realism and figure out what it's all about.

I'm Dr. Elizabeth Yardley, and on this blog, I have made it my mission to demystify the jargon and complex terminology of academia.

Paradigms can feel intimidating. Much of the academic writing on them does not help. For the most part, the academic literature around paradigms and theoretical frameworks is impenetrable, with students frantically Googling to find out what all those fancy, elaborate words mean.

You end up feeling more confused than when you started out.

If this sounds familiar, you are not alone!

I'm trying to make paradigms accessible because they are not as complex as many people think they are.

This blogpost is the final part in a series all about paradigms. The first one explains what paradigms are and the ones that follow it look in detail at three key social science research paradigms. I’ve dived deep into positivism, taken a browse around in interpretivism; in this blogpost we're looking at critical realism.

Paradigms - a quick recap

Before we dive into critical realism, I want to have a quick recap of what I mean when I say paradigms, just so we're all on the same page, okay?

Now, imagine the landscape of social research like a bustling high school where you've got cliques of different kids. You've got your artsy creative types, you've got your social justice warriors, you've got your jocks, you've got your geeks. Now, all of these different groups of kids attach differing degrees of importance to particular things. They have ways of dressing, ways of behaving, ways of making sense of the world.

I use this high school cliques analogy to make sense of some of the key research paradigms in social sciences.

Positivists, Interpretivists, Critical Realists

Firstly, positivists. I would compare them to the science geeks who are diligently pursuing the hard facts and the objective truths. The interpretivists, on the other hand, are like the artsy creative crowd at high school, valuing people's thoughts and feelings and treasuring the stories that they bring to the table. Finally, the critical realists, who we're looking at in this video. For me, they stand out as the activists, the social justice warriors diving deep into systemic inequalities and trying to do something about them.

Ontology and Epistemology

Now, we also need a quick recap of ontology and epistemology. As we've seen in the previous three blogposts, when we're talking about paradigms, we need to be super clear what we mean by ontology and epistemology.

Ontology is like asking, “What's out there?”.

It's about figuring out exactly what it is that we're studying.

When we look at the social world, do we see it as something fixed and unchanging, kind of like a building, that’s there whether we look at it or not? If so, we're taking a realist approach.

Or do we see the social world as something constantly changing and evolving in response to the things that we do within it, something that's influenced by our actions and our interactions, like a home that we're constantly changing and adapting and decorating and redecorating? If so, we're taking a social constructivist approach.

Epistemology, on the other hand, is more about asking, “How do we know what's out there?”.

It's about how we study the social world.

Do we seek to explain things and identify the causes? If so, we're taking a positivist approach.

Or do we try to understand things and identify their meanings? If so, we're taking an interpretivist view.

Okay, after that very quick whistle-stop tour of paradigms, ontology, and epistemology, we're ready for critical realism. Let's dive in.

Critical Realism - The basics

Critical realists, like the activist, social justice warrior kids in high school, focus on uncovering deeper structures and mechanisms whilst fighting for social justice.

Critical realists believe that there is quite a clear distinction between the real world and the observable world.

There's a difference between what's real and what we can actually see and measure.

The real stuff exists on its own, whilst what we observe is shaped by our own experience and perspectives.

The observable - or empirical - it's kind of like when a scientist conducts an experiment. They create the experiment, they get all the equipment out, they get it going, and they see the results. However, the results are caused by underlying theoretical mechanisms, structures, and laws that they can't observe directly.

Much in the same way as we can't directly observe gravity, we know that it's there because we can see its effects, like objects falling to the ground.

Similarly, critical realists argue that whilst we can observe harms in the social world - like racism, inequality, discrimination, domestic abuse - there are underlying structures that shape them, things that might not be immediately apparent, things that we can't see.

According to critical realists, the things we can't see cause the things we can see, and the social world can only be understood if people get that.

Empirical, actual, real

Critical realists use the concepts of the empirical, the actual, and the real to make sense of this. Let's walk through an example.

The example that we're looking at is poverty.

• Empirical. This part of poverty is what we can see directly—people struggling on the streets, unable to afford basics, or relying on food aid. It's the daily reality we witness in our communities.

• Actual. Going deeper, this is about how poverty plays out in real life. It's about the relationships between individuals, institutions, economic systems, and cultural norms that keep poverty going. Understanding these complexities is key to grasping why poverty persists.

• Real. This layer looks beneath the surface to uncover the root causes of poverty. It's about things like unequal wealth distribution, lack of access to education and healthcare, and discrimination based on race or gender. These hidden forces shape and sustain poverty, often beyond our immediate notice.

Critical realists argue that what we can see on the surface, the empirical, is actually just the tip of the iceberg.

The actual layer reveals the complex dynamics that play in perpetuating poverty, whilst the real layer uncovers the deep-rooted structural inequalities. These are the foundations upon which poverty is built. Critical realists argue that we need to recognise all of these layers, we need to recognise what's going on at each of these levels if we're to combat poverty in our communities.

Let’s think about ontology and epistemology and where the critical realists stand on that.

In terms of ontology, critical realists believe that there are deeper underlying structures that exist in the world that aren't always evident, that we can't always see. These things are real, they exist independently of us, they're there beneath the surface - so critical realists are located towards the realist end of the ontology spectrum. While we can see the tangible signs of poverty in our communities, critical realists argue that there are things causing poverty that we can't see, those deeper systemic issues and inequalities that live beneath the surface.

Now, in terms of epistemology, critical realists say that it's really important to recognise the difference between what's observable and what is real but might not be immediately visible. They want a holistic approach that acknowledges the stuff that we can see and the stuff we can't see. This means recognising that our understanding of social issues like poverty are shaped by our perspectives and experiences, but it also encourages us to look beyond the surface and examine the systemic issues at play. As such, they might adopt mixed methods approaches, encompassing research that seeks to explain things and identify the causes (positivist) and research that seeks to understand things and identify the meanings (interpretivist).

Critical realism - example study: Galazka & O’Mahoney (2021) The Socio-Materiality of Dirty Work: A Critical Realist Perspective

The example that we're looking at is the Galazka & O’Mahoney (2021) study about clinical photographers who take pictures of wounds in a UK clinic. It's massively helpful in seeing how the empirical, the actual, and the real play out.

Firstly, the empirical. This is about the observable elements of the photographer's work, the things that we can see: the act of taking photos, their equipment, the wounds that they capture in their images. These are the visible, day-to-day realities of their job that we can directly observe.

Secondly, looking at the actual. Here, we're looking at how the photographer's work plays out in real life. It considers how their thoughts and their actions are influenced by their experiences and the environment they work in. This layer goes beyond just the observable actions, just the things that we can see. It goes deeper because it's looking at the complex dynamics that are involved in that job.

Lastly, the real layer looks at the underlying mechanisms and structures that influence the photographer's work. This includes things like rules and hierarchy in the medical setting. Those deeper, unseen forces have quite a significant impact on how photographers do their job.

Now, let's talk about ontology and epistemology in this study, and where we can see critical realism at play.

In terms of ontology, this study aligns really neatly with critical realist ontology because it acknowledges that there are deeper structures at work in the world that influence our experiences and our actions. It recognises that there's more to the photographer's work than just what we can see on the surface. It's shaped by the rules, the hierarchy, and other factors in the medical setting.

Looking at epistemology, in terms of how we understand the photographer's work, the study emphasises how important it is to recognise both the observable aspects - the empirical - and the underlying structures - the real - that shape their actions. It's this holistic approach that allows us to gain a deeper understanding of the photographer's work because it helps us consider the interplay between what we can observe and what lies beneath the surface, what we're not so readily able to observe.

Through this study, we can see how critical realism offers us a framework, a really valuable framework for understanding the complexities of the social world - like the work of clinical photographers - because it gives us those insights into the visible and the underlying elements of their experiences.

Recap

To recap, in this blogpost, we've taken a look at critical realists.

Critical realists are kind of like the activist kids in high school. They are always fighting for what's right and uncovering the hidden stuff.

We had a quick recap of some key terms like paradigms, ontology, and epistemology, and then we looked at the key concepts of the critical realist approach.

We used the example of poverty to look at those three layers: the empirical, the actual, and the real.

Then we looked at an example of critical realist research on the work of clinical photographers.

I hope you found this blogpost helpful. Let me know your questions in the comments, and be sure to check out the other blogposts in this series.

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