Critical Realism in Qualitative Research: What it is and how to use it in a PhD
If you’re working on a PhD in the social sciences, you’ve probably come across the term critical realism.
For many researchers, it raises a few immediate questions:
What exactly is critical realism?
Is it the same thing as critical theory?
Does critical realism mean your research has to be political or activist?
How do you actually use critical realism in qualitative research?
These questions are very common. Research paradigms are often introduced quickly in doctoral programmes, and many students are left trying to piece together what they mean for their own research.
In this blogpost, we’ll unpack what critical realism actually means and how it can be used in qualitative PhD research.
If you’re still exploring paradigms more broadly, you might also find my other posts on research paradigms helpful.
What is critical realism?
Critical realism is a research paradigm that focuses on understanding the deeper structures and mechanisms that shape social reality.
It was developed primarily by philosopher Roy Bhaskar, who argued that the social world operates in layers.
Critical realism distinguishes between three levels of reality:
The empirical: What we directly observe or experience.
The actual: Events that occur whether we observe them or not.
The real: The underlying mechanisms or structures that generate those events.
For researchers, this means that what we see on the surface is only part of the story.
Critical realist research asks:
What underlying mechanisms are producing these outcomes?
Critical realism in qualitative research
Critical realism is often used in qualitative research, particularly in fields like sociology, education, organisational studies and health research.
That’s because qualitative methods allow researchers to explore people’s experiences, social processes, institutional dynamics, and structural influences.
For example, imagine you are researching healthcare inequalities. At the surface level, you might observe that certain groups struggle to access services.
A critical realist approach would go further and ask:
What policy decisions shape healthcare access?
How do economic systems influence service provision?
What institutional structures produce these outcomes?
In other words, critical realism encourages researchers to move beyond description and explore the deeper causes of social phenomena.
Does critical realism require a social justice stance?
One of the most common misunderstandings about critical realism comes from the word “critical.”
People sometimes assume it means the research must involve political critique or activism. In reality, the word “critical” refers to something different. Critical realism encourages researchers to be critical of surface appearances.
Rather than accepting what we observe at face value, it invites us to investigate the underlying mechanisms that shape social outcomes.
Some critical realist research does focus on social justice issues such as inequality, discrimination or policy reform. But the paradigm itself does not require a political agenda. It simply provides a framework for understanding how complex social systems operate.
What researchers choose to do with those insights is a separate question.
Critical realism vs critical theory
Another common source of confusion is the relationship between critical realism and critical theory.
Although the names sound similar, they are quite different traditions.
Critical theory, particularly associated with the Frankfurt School, focuses on critiquing and challenging social power structures. It often has an explicitly political aim: exposing injustice and advocating for social change.
Critical realism, by contrast, focuses primarily on explaining how social systems work. Its goal is to understand the mechanisms and structures that generate social outcomes.
Both approaches may study similar issues, such as inequality or institutional power.
But they approach those questions in different ways.
Critical theory emphasises critique and transformation.
Critical realism emphasises explanation and causal mechanisms.
How critical realism shapes research design
If you adopt a critical realist perspective in your PhD, it influences several aspects of your research design.
For example:
Research questions
Critical realist research questions often explore underlying causes or structures. For example:
What mechanisms shape career insecurity in the tech industry?
How do institutional policies influence students’ experiences of higher education?
What social structures shape healthcare access in rural communities?
Methodology
Critical realism is compatible with both qualitative and mixed methods research, but many PhD projects use qualitative methods such as interviews, focus groups, and document analysis.
These methods help researchers understand how individuals experience and interpret the social structures around them.
Analysis
In analysis, critical realist researchers often move between participants’ experiences, broader social systems, and underlying causal mechanisms.
This layered interpretation is one of the distinctive features of critical realist research.
Critical realism as a lens for understanding social systems
A helpful way to think about critical realism is as a lens for examining how social systems operate.
Imagine looking at a garden.
At the surface level, you see plants, flowers and trees.
But a deeper understanding requires looking at the soil, water systems, sunlight, and root structures. Those underlying elements shape what grows on the surface.
Critical realism encourages researchers to take a similar approach to social phenomena. It invites us to explore the deeper structures that shape what we observe in the social world.
Want help understanding paradigms and research foundations?
Many PhD researchers find the conceptual foundations of research - paradigms, theory and frameworks - difficult to articulate clearly.
If you’d like structured guidance for thinking through these ideas, my Conceptual and Theoretical Foundations PhD Survival Guide helps you:
understand research paradigms
clarify your ontological and epistemological position
explain your theoretical foundations clearly in your thesis
You can explore the guide here.
