Realising Management Research: Critical Realism as an Underpinning Philosophy

Professor John MingersKent Business School, UK

February 2014

Realising Research

1. Problems in the Philosophy of Management Reseach• Management research, particularly in the U.S., was long

dominated by positivism (more generally empiricism)– Several surveys have demonstrated the preponderance of positivist

research in IS journals (Orlikowski, Walsham, Nandhakumar, Mingers).

• During the 1980s, an alternative tradition arose from social science - interpretivism (more generally conventionalism).– Major journals, e.g., MISQ are now encouraging this approach (Lee,

Myers, Walsham, Jones)• Other approaches include a critical perspective (Lyytinen, Truex,

Ngwenyama, Mingers, Klein) and postmodernism (Robinson, White).

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• Within the management discipline there are different views about this diversity of paradigms:– Isolationism: Burrell and Morgan identified four supposedly

irreconcilable paradigms. They are seen as equal but research should follow a single paradigm.

– Imperialism: Many people believe in the superiority of a particular paradigm, usually positivism. Benbasat and Weber argue the need for disciplinary conformity.

– Pluralism: Accepts the need for a variety of paradigms within the discipline or for particular research projects:

• Complementarism (e.g. Robey) sees different methods as being more appropriate for different research questions

• Strong pluralism (e.g. Mingers) argues for combining methods within a research project

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3. Introduction to Critical RealismCR has been developing since the 1970s in response to the anti-realist developments in philosophy. Primarily Roy Bhaskar, but also others such as Keat, Urry, Norris and Archer. Has attracted much attention in recent years in sociology, economics, geography, international relations and management It aims to:

1 Re-establish a realist view of being in the ontological domain whilst accepting the relativism of knowledge as socially and historically conditioned in the epistemological domain;

2 Argue for a modified naturalism in social science;3 Develop the idea of explanatory critique as a way of re-uniting facts and

values, and recognising that social theory is inevitably transformative.4 Recast this in a dialectical form

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Morice, C., Kennedy, J., Rayner, N., and Jones, P. 2012. “Quantifying uncertainties in global and regional temperature change using an ensemble of observational estimates: the HadCRUT4 dataset”, J. of Geophysical Research, 117, D08101Data available from: http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/info/warming/

I Explanatory Models: The Empirical and the Real

We must have explanatory models involving the interaction of causal mechanisms. Statistical analysis of empirical data is not sufficient, no matter how sophisticated. We have to move from the domain of the Empirical to the domain of the Real

The REAL: mechanisms and structures with enduring properties

The ACTUAL: events (and non-events) that are generated by the mechanisms

The EMPIRICAL: events that are actually observed and experienced

Critical realist methodology - RRREIC:

• Resolution of complex phenomena into components• Redescription in an explanatory meaningful way• Retroduction of potential, hypothetical explanatory

mechanisms• Elimination of alternative competing explanations• Identification of causally efficacious mechanisms• Correction of earlier findings/theories

Nate Silver “The Signal and the Noise”Roy Bhaskar “Contexts of Interdisciplinarity: Interdisciplinarity and Climate Change”

• Yes• No• Don’t know

Do you think that social science should be value free?

Answers:

• “Yes” Wrong - this position is self contradictory. To say science “ought” to be value free is immediately to invoke a value – a performative contradiction.

Interestingly, such opposing intellectuals as Popper and Habermas agree that rationality cannot itself be rationally justified:Habermas: “the choice of rationality over dogmatism must itself either be rationally justified, in which case rationality is committed, or be itself dogmatic” Towards a Rational Society. 1971Popper: “There are other tenable attitudes, notably that of critical rationalism, which recognises the fact that the fundamental rationalist attitude results from an act of faith – from faith in reason. … This is a moral decision” The Open Society and its Enemies II, 1966, p. 231

• “No” Correct - social science cannot be value free. This is a fundamental tenet of CR

• “Don’t know” – you shouldn’t be here doing social science!

II Critical Realism is Value-Full and Committed

• Social science is inevitably evaluative since its subject matter is inevitably evaluative and value-full

• The “facts” of the social world are pre-structured in an normative way. This cannot be avoided or “cured” by producing shallow descriptions:

• To say that someone “died” carries the presumption that they were not murdered• The best description of a social phenomena is that which is richest and maximises

explanatory power (Popper should perhaps agree with this)• Hermeneutic adequacy is necessary but not sufficient• There is a “double hermeneutic” in the social world (Giddens)• This does not depend on the subject’s interests but on the subject matter itself

• “Explanatory critique”: People hold beliefs about social matters. • Where social science finds those beliefs to be false it is right that it should reveal that

falsity (for otherwise it is hiding the truth); • if it finds that there are social mechanisms or structures that maintain the false belief

it should point this out – e.g., suppressing/supporting particular research; not allowing information to be public; advertising and the media; corporate interests

III Applied CR Research in Open Systems

• Research must pay attention both to the object/problem it studies (intransitive) and the place/context of the study (transitive) The real, the objects of our knowledge, constitute the intransitive

domain of science. They are independent of us. Even speech becomes intransitive after it is uttered (referential detachment).

The production of knowledge, however, is the work of humans who produce and refine the transitive objects of knowledge - theories, results, anomalies, journals, recommendations etc. This aspect is clearly a social process.

This distinction allows us to – accept epistemic relativity - i.e., that knowledge is always historically and socially

located, – but reject judgmental relativity - i.e, that all views are equally valid with no rational

grounds for choosing between them.

• Scientific research should involve distinctions between: Structure/events Real/Actual/Empirical Transfactuality of laws

• Open systems require: Laminated totality (system) of enmeshed mechanisms of different types and at

different levels Interdisciplinarity

• Social phenomena: Use of the Transformative Model of Social Action (further developed by Archer) Social life as concept dependent but also intransitive – constituted of, but not

exhausted by, actors’ conceptualisations• Use of the MELD categories:

1M: structure, differentiation, stratification, mechanisms/events 2E: process, dynamics, absence and negativity, contradiction 3L: holism, totality, emergence, holistic causality, recursiveness 4D: agency, transformation, intentionality, autonomy

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Major Literature• 1975 A Realist Theory of Science: Concerned with natural science (transcendental realism)

• 1979 The Possibility of Naturalism: Concerned with social science (critical naturalism)

• 1986 Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation: Argues for emancipatory critique (critical realism)

• 1989 Reclaiming Reality: General overview, includes critiques of Fereyabend, Bachelard, Rorty

• 1993 Dialectic: The Pulse of Freedom: Recasts the whole theory in terms of dialectics. Introduces the MELD model. (dialectical critical realism)

• 1994 Plato Etc.: A short and dense version of Dialectic

• 2000 From East to West: Attempts a link to Eastern philosophy and religion

• 2002 From Science to Emancipation: Readable overview based on lectures plus several debates and discussions

• 1998 Critical Realism: Essential Readings: Best introduction with excerpts from Bhaskar plus commentary and essays (by Archer et al)

• 2007 Dictionary of Critical Realism (Hartwig, M.)

• 1995 Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach (Archer, M.)

• 2000 Realism and Social Science (Sayer, A.)

Bhaskar, R. 2010. "Contexts of interdisciplinarity: Interdisciplinarity and climate change," in: Interdisciplinarity and Climate Change: Transforming Knowledge and Practice for Our Global Future, R. Bhaskar, C. Frank, K.G. Høyer, P. Naess and J. Parker (eds.). London: Routledge, pp. 1-24.

Bhaskar, R., and Hartwig, M. 2010. The Formation of Critical Realism: A Personal Perspective London: Routledge.

Archer, M., and Maccarini, A. (eds.). 2013. Engaging with the World: Agency, Institutions, Historical Formations London: Routledge.

Bhaskar, R. 2013. "Prolegomenon," in: Engaging with the World: Agency, Institutions, Historical Formations M. Archer and A. Maccarini (eds.). London: Routledge, pp. 11-21.

Mingers, J. 2014. Systems Thinking, Critical Realism and Philosophy: A Confluence of Ideas. London: Routledge.

Edwards, P., O'Mahoney, J., and Vincent, S. (eds.). 2014. Studying Organizations Using Critical Realism: A Practical Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bhaskar, R., and Danermark, B. 2015. Interdisciplinarity and Well-Being. London: Routledge.

Silver, N. 2012. The Signal and the Noise: The Art and Science of Prediction. London: Penguin.

Recent and Forthcoming CR works

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Example – The Tipping Point (Gladwell)• In Baltimore in 1995 there was a sudden explosion of

syphilis and sexually transmitted diseases. This was completely unexpected and difficult to understand.

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Reported Cases of Syphilis, Baltimore

Cases

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Methodology

• Resolution: A complex interaction of biology, sexuality, social practices, medicine, town planning, politics

• Redescription: Analysis to identify causal linkages between these different components and strata

• Retroduction: Three hypothetical causal mechanisms were suggested– Center for Disease Control (CDC) – increased use of crack cocaine

increasing risky behaviour and attracting more participants– Prof Johnathan Zenilman (John Hopkins University) – breakdown of

medical services through budget cuts reducing the number of STD clinics– Prof John Potterat (El Paso Dept. of Health) – spread of sexual activity

through slum clearance

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Infected people

Susceptible people

People exposed

New cases

Rate of exposure

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People recovering

People being treated

Medical facilities

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Duration of infectivity

Rate of infection

Drug usage

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B Balancing loop R Reinforcing loop

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The REAL: mechanisms and structures with enduring properties

The ACTUAL: events (and non-events) that are generated by the mechanisms

The EMPIRICAL: events that are actually observed and experienced

• Elimination: Research to see which if any could actually be responsible for the effects. Observations, modelling, comparisons, testing etc

• Identification: of the correct one or combination of several

• Correction of theory about public health and also programmes of action to improve the situation