ABSTRACT
Important epistemological divergences between quantitative methodology and critical inquiry represent a significant challenge towards a fusion into a critical quantitative approach. However, as this chapter argues, a critical realist philosophy has the potential to offset some of the incompatibilities through its alternative approaches to reality, context, and causality. In the text, I consider my experiences of methodological difficulties during my doctoral studies in relation to an ontological discussion and posit the contribution of critical realism. The chapter also draws on critical realism to re-examine and explore the ontological underpinnings, conceptualisations, and findings of a previous analysis of the spatiality of school choice. The study consisted of a quantitative spatial analysis of population-based register data of students attending Swedish upper secondary education and relied on Doreen's theoretical concept of space.
