Why is my truth closer to ‘reality’ than yours? Operationalizing judgemental rationality in criminological research.

• In Event: 'Claims to Truth' in Qualitative Criminological Research.

Abstract

This paper addresses a fundamental yet thorny question in social science research centred upon the extent to which criminologists can claim that their research represents ‘truth’ and ‘reality’. Based upon a critical realist philosophy, the paper argues there are some practical methodological ways in which research can best represent the social phenomena being studied. At its core, critical realist philosophy is founded upon three inter-related concepts of ontological realism, epistemological relativism and judgemental rationality. Ontological realism claims that phenomena in the social world exists relatively independently of what we think we know about them. Epistemological relativism acknowledges that our learning of phenomena is context-dependent, fallible and prone to individual bias, based on our positionality. Judgemental rationality asserts that there are criteria for explanatory accounts of social phenomena, but some are more plausible than others. This paper will discuss how the under-developed concept of judgemental rationality is actualized via depth reflexivity and triangulation illustrated through a case study of prison-based research.

Author

• Muzammil Quraishi, Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of Salford, Manchester, UK.