Getting Real About Critical Realist Qualitative Interviewing: Five Principles to Guide Practice

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 10:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Generating Possibilities Via Critical Reflections and Expansion of Methods (Table 10)

Abstract

Critical realism refers to a broad project to realize a post-positivist social science. At its best, it responds to critiques of positivism thrown down by social constructionism, while also allowing researchers to make interrogable claims about reality—a priority for many working to remedy and repair structural oppression. Interviews remain one of the foremost methods through which researchers generate data to inform our understanding of reality. For critical realism to deliver on its promise as a philosophy of science, we need theoretically sound guidance on what this approach to interviewing might look like. In response, we offer five principles, rooted in critical realism’s key tenets, that can guide education researchers as they design, conduct, and evaluate critical realist interview studies.

Authors

• Ashley R. Moore, University of Toronto - OISE

• Deirdre M. Kelly, University of British Columbia