Critical Realism - A simple explanation for beginners
Critical realism is often introduced as a way of understanding what lies beneath the surface of social reality. But for many qualitative PhD researchers, the difficulty is not understanding the definition - it is working out what it actually means for their research.
You might recognise the language: underlying structures, hidden mechanisms, deeper layers of reality. But how does that translate into the choices you make about your study, your data, and your analysis?
In this post, I’ll explain critical realism in clear terms, but also show you how it connects to qualitative research - and where it can (and cannot) help you.
If we’ve not met before, I’m Dr Elizabeth Yardley. I work with qualitative PhD researchers who are trying to make sense of conceptual and theoretical decisions in a way that holds together across their study.
Paradigms – a quick recap
Before we dive into critical realism, it’s worth briefly revisiting what we mean by paradigms.
A research paradigm is a way of making sense of the social world. It shapes what you think exists (ontology), how you think knowledge can be developed (epistemology), and how you approach your research more broadly.
Different paradigms place emphasis on different aspects of reality. Some focus on objective explanation, others on meaning and experience. What matters is not just understanding these differences, but recognising how they shape the decisions you make in your own research.
Ontology and epistemology
When working with paradigms, two concepts come up repeatedly: ontology and epistemology.
Ontology is concerned with what exists. In social research, this often comes down to whether you see the social world as something that exists independently of us, or something that is shaped through human interaction.
Epistemology is concerned with how we come to know that world. Do we aim to explain causes and identify patterns, or do we focus on understanding meanings and experiences?
These are not abstract ideas for the sake of it. They shape how you design your study, how you interpret your data, and what kinds of claims you feel able to make.
Critical realism – the basics
Critical realism is a perspective that focuses on understanding the relationship between what we can observe and the deeper structures that shape those observations.
A central idea in critical realism is that there is a distinction between the real world and what we are able to observe directly.
In other words, there are underlying mechanisms, structures, and forces that exist independently of our awareness of them. What we observe - experiences, events, behaviours - are shaped by these deeper elements, even if we cannot see them directly.
A simple way to think about this is through cause and effect. We may observe outcomes in the social world - inequality, discrimination, institutional practices - but critical realism encourages us to ask what underlying structures are producing those outcomes.
Empirical, actual, and real
Critical realism often uses three layers to describe this relationship: the empirical, the actual, and the real.
The empirical refers to what we can directly observe or experience. This might include people’s accounts, visible behaviours, or documented events.
The actual refers to what is happening, whether or not we observe it. This includes patterns, relationships, and processes that unfold in the social world.
The real refers to the underlying structures and mechanisms that generate those patterns and events. These are not always directly observable, but they shape what we see.
For example, if we take poverty:
The empirical might include visible experiences of hardship.
The actual includes the ways poverty plays out across social and institutional contexts.
The real includes the underlying structures - such as inequality, policy decisions, and systemic disadvantage - that generate those conditions.
At this point, the concepts can feel quite clear in theory.
But this is where many qualitative PhD researchers begin to hesitate.
Understanding the distinction between the empirical, the actual, and the real is one thing. Working out how to use that way of thinking to guide your research design, your analysis, and your claims is something else entirely.
What does this mean for qualitative research?
For qualitative researchers, critical realism can be particularly useful when your aim is to move beyond describing experiences and towards explaining how those experiences are shaped.
It allows you to take participants’ accounts seriously, while also asking what broader structures may be influencing those accounts.
For example, you might explore how individuals experience a particular phenomenon, while also considering how institutional, cultural, or social forces are shaping those experiences.
However, this also introduces an important responsibility.
If you are working within a critical realist framework, you need to be clear about how you are moving between what participants say (the empirical) and the claims you make about underlying structures (the real).
Without that clarity, critical realism can remain at the level of language rather than genuinely informing your analysis.
Critical realism in practice: an example
To see how this works in practice, consider research on clinical photographers working in healthcare settings, a topic covered by Galazka & O’Mahoney (2021) in their study within a UK clinic.
At the empirical level, we might observe the day-to-day activities of the photographers - taking images, interacting with patients, using equipment.
At the level of the actual, we begin to consider how their work unfolds within a particular context. This includes relationships with colleagues, emotional responses, and the demands of the role.
At the level of the real, we look at the underlying structures shaping that work. This might include institutional hierarchies, professional norms, and organisational constraints.
What critical realism allows us to do here is connect these layers - to move from what is visible to an explanation of how and why those patterns exist.
Where critical realism helps - and where it can become difficult
Critical realism can be powerful because it gives you a way of linking experience to structure.
It helps you:
move beyond surface description
consider underlying causes
build a more explanatory account of your data
However, this is also where many researchers encounter difficulty.
The challenge is not understanding the terminology, but applying it consistently.
How do you justify moving from participants’ accounts to claims about deeper structures?
How do you ensure those claims are grounded in your data, rather than assumed?
How do you explain this clearly in your writing?
These are not small questions. They sit at the heart of your conceptual and theoretical foundations.
Recap
Critical realism offers a way of thinking about the relationship between what we observe and what lies beneath the surface.
It introduces the idea that:
the social world contains underlying structures
those structures shape what we experience
and research should aim to understand that relationship
For qualitative researchers, this creates an opportunity to move beyond description and towards explanation.
But it also requires careful thinking about how your analysis is constructed and justified.
Next steps
If you’ve read this and thought, “I understand what critical realism is, but I’m not completely sure how to apply it to my own study,” that’s a very common point to reach.
Understanding a research paradigm conceptually is one thing. Making it work across your research design, analysis, and overall argument is something else.
My Conceptual and Theoretical Foundations PhD Survival Guide is designed to support that process. It helps you work through ontology, epistemology, and paradigms in a way that makes your reasoning visible and your decisions coherent.
It’s not about choosing the “right” paradigm. It’s about being able to justify the one you’re using.
It’s there if and when you need it.
If you’d prefer to keep developing your understanding gradually, you can join my email community. It’s not a substitute for structured support, but it will help you stay oriented as your thinking develops through my weekly emails.
If your research is moving, but something underneath it doesn’t fully make sense yet, this guide will help you get it back on solid ground.
This is not about starting from scratch, it’s about making sense of the conceptual and theoretical foundations that are already shaping your work - so you can explain, defend, and build on them with confidence.
If your project feels slightly unclear, fragmented, or harder to articulate than it should, this guide helps you steady it, so your research starts to come together as a coherent whole.
Designed for qualitative doctoral researchers working with interviews, fieldnotes, documents, thematic analysis, grounded theory, ethnography, and related approaches.
Inside, you’ll work through seven carefully sequenced sections with practical worksheets to help you:
Understand paradigms and epistemology without getting lost in jargon
Clarify how your concepts connect to your research questions
Articulate your theoretical position with more confidence
Ensure your title reflects what your research is actually doing
If you’ve ever thought:
“I understand this… but not enough to defend it.”
“I’ve done the work, but I’m not sure how it all fits together.”
This guide helps you make your research foundations visible, so you can move forward with clarity, coherence, and confidence.
When the foundations are clear, everything else becomes easier: your literature review, your methodology, and your writing.
This is a digital download. You’ll get immediate access to the full guide and worksheets as soon as you purchase, so you can start making progress straight away.
Swipe through the images to see exactly what’s inside.
For a more streamlined and coherent approach, you can access all four PhD Survival Guides in the full series here.
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