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Critical Realism and Empirical Research Methods in Education
Author(s) -
SCOTT DAVID
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of philosophy of education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.501
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9752
pISSN - 0309-8249
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9752.2005.00460.x
Subject(s) - epistemology , critical realism (philosophy of perception) , realism , argument (complex analysis) , sociology , commit , relation (database) , empirical research , philosophy of science , perspective (graphical) , agency (philosophy) , critical theory , philosophy , computer science , chemistry , biochemistry , database , artificial intelligence
In the light of recent writings of Richard Pring, and in relation to the application of empirical research methods in education, this paper offers a corrective to a neo‐realist viewpoint and develops a critical realist perspective. The argument is made that the deployment of empirical research methods needs to be underpinned by a meta‐theory embracing epistemological and ontological elements; that this meta‐theory does not commit one to the view that absolute knowledge of the social world is possible; and that critical realism is the most appropriate meta‐theory to underpin the use of empirical research methods. Further to this, unhelpful dualisms between quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and between structure and agency, are discussed in relation to neo‐realist and critical realist perspectives.