Critical Realism,
The Philosophy of Science of Action Research
Let’s first examine our own understanding of
things/events…..
Philosophy (the science of knowledge) has two branches:
•ONTOLOGY – deals with WHAT WE KNOW AS EXISTING (WHAT’S IN
THERE IN THE WORLD AROUND US? WHAT IS OCCURING? )
– Examples: physical objects, abstract concepts (fairness, satisfaction)
Exercise: What did you observe in the video “A Bad Day in the Office” ?
•EPISTEMOLOGY– deals with HOW DO WE KNOW IT EXISTS? (FROM
WHAT PERSPECTIVE (APPROACH) ARE WE COMING FROM? )
Exercise: How did you know those manifestations shown in the
video clip “A Bad Day in the Office?
That is, what perspective did you use?
Critical Realism’s 3 Layers of Reality, based on Bhaskar
(Houston,p 219-220) (Note: Relate this with your Issue Identification & Selection, Probable Causes
& Potential Effects)
•The Empirical level –we experience something through our senses (we saw
events, we hear voices). “ So, that’s the issue that we observed!)
•The Actual level –reality actually exists even if we are not aware of it (due
to spatial and temporal (time) limitations). “ But there may be other or
deeper events which we did not see!” (So, think about coming up later
with an Array of Issues)
Remember that events occur beyond our individual sensory experience.
•The Real level –beyond the Empirical and Actual levels are unseen, causal
mechanisms that work synergistically to produce effects on the empirical
and actual levels of experience. We can hypothesize about them.
“What could be some underlying, probable causes of that issue?”)
Empirical (what can be observed) :
We can only see the branches and
leaves of the tree because of a
wall obstruction.
Actual (what is known but cannot
always be seen) : The tree also has
a trunk but we cannot see it
