ABSTRACT
In this innovative book, theorists and researchers from various social science disciplines explore the potential of realist social theory for empirical research. The examples are drawn from a wide range of fields health and medicine, crime, housing, sociolinguistics, development theory and deal with issues such as causality, probability, and reflexivity in social science. Varied and lively contributions relate central methodological issues to detailed accounts of research projects which adopt a realist framework.
Making Realism Work provides an accessible discussion of a significant current in contemporary social science and will be of interest to social theorists and social researchers alike.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |4 pages
Methodology and measurement
chapter |17 pages
Complex and contingent causation – the implications of complex realism for quantitative modelling
part |42 pages
Applying realism
chapter |20 pages
Class as variable, class as generative mechanism
part |3 pages
Reflexivity and realist research