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Winner of the 2022 Cheryl Frank Memorial Prize.
Critical realism, as a toolkit of practical ideas, helps researchers to extend and clarify their analyses. It resolves problems arising from splits between different research approaches, builds on the strengths of different methods and overcomes their individual limitations.
This original text draws on international examples of health and illness research across the life course, from small studies to large trials, to show how versatile critical realism can be in validating research and connecting it to policy and practice.
To meet growing demand from students and researchers, this book is based on the course at UCL, first taught by Roy Bhaskar, the founder of critical realism.
"This book is wonderfully written, rich discussion of a vastly underused and underappreciated theory approach in British sociology. It is one of the best introductions to critical realism I have come across." BSA Network Newsletter
Introduction
Rethinking theories: the basis of practical research and problems with paradigms
Basic critical realist concepts
Structure and agency: making connections
Health and illness research: value-free or value-laden?
Four planes of social being: more connections
Researching transformative change over time
The point is to change it: connecting research to policy and practice