ABSTRACT
The merits of the CR approach are best illustrated, at the risk of caricature, through a comparison with alternative positivist and interpretivist approaches (for a similar discussion, see Patomäki and Wight, 2000). This section proceeds, therefore, with a discussion of the main differences between critical realism, positivism and interpretivism, seeking in particular to highlight the advantages of adopting a critical realist approach.
