Subject: BHA: RE: Request for Recommendations for a "Novice" 
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 16:40:33 -0400


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Brad,

Given your work, you should read Realistic Evaluation by Ray Pawson and Nick
Tilley (Sage 1997). Right now I'm reading Explaining Society by Danermark,
Ekstrom, Jakobsen, and Karlsson (Routledge 2002), and it's very good albeit
still not as "practical" as one might like. If you like Sayer's Method,
you'll no doubt like his Realism and Social Science (Sage 2000).

Personally, I think CR poses a serious strategic problem for discussing its
"practical" side. The logic of CR leads to the conclusion that method must
be tuned to the object of study. Consequently, the idea of a CR-based
"methods" text (or methods course) is a bit of an oxymoron. Yet "methods
texts" (and courses) are very important in social science because they
typically socialize students with the norms of research in the discipline. I
also think the link between object and method can be overstressed. We really
do need to embark on a project of carefully examining all received social
science methods -- from survey research and statistics to participant
observation and action research -- in light of CR. This project would no
doubt result in a significant recasting of some techniques and perhaps the
discarding of others. Without doing this work, we leave the "practical side"
of research to the positivist survivals who write methods texts. Even those
who are sympathetic towards CR (e.g., W. Lawrence Neuman, author of Social
Research Methods, and Bill Trochim, author of the Research Methods Knowledge
Base at http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/) just discuss it in the abstract
and then go on to cover the usual "practical" stuff in the usual manner.

    Marsh Feldman
  -----Original Message-----
  From: owner-bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
[mailto:owner-bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu]On Behalf Of Brad Rose
  Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2002 1:13 PM
  To: bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
  Subject: BHA: Request for Recommendations for a "Novice"


  Bhaskar List Members,

  I am new to this list, and am seeking some help and recommendations. I'm
an applied sociologist (I evaluate educational and human service programs,
for a living) and am newly studying critical realism. I must say that I’ve
found Bhaskar’s work, although clearly very important, initially pretty
heavy going. I am now trudging through the anthology Critical Realism
Essential Readings, and simultaneously perusing Plato, etc.The Problems of
Philosophy and Their Resolution. The latter book claims, apparently without
irony, "to be his most accessible, to date."

  My questions:

  1. Are there secondary texts or articles that list members would recommend
that would ease my initiation to Bhaskar, and more generally, critical
realism? (I just finished , Philosophy of Social Science: the Philosophical
Foundations of Social Thought, by Ted Benton and Ian Craib, which is a
succinct and serviceable primer, with a chapter on CR.)

  2. Are their accessible works that discuss the "practical" applications or
perhaps "implications" of CR for social science research? (I’ve enjoyed
Andrew Sayer, Method in the Social Sciences, and would welcome other
suggestions.)

  3. Is there a preferred order for approaching Bhaskar’s writings? For
example, one reader suggested looking at his writings in reverse
chronological order: "Philosophy and the Idea of Freedom," "Reclaiming
Reality," "Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation," "The Possibility of
Naturalism," and "A Realist Theory of Science."

  Many thanks in advance for your suggestions and assistance. You may
choose, if you would like, to reply off-list to: bradrose1-AT-attbi.com

  Brad Rose, Ph.D.
  e-mail: bradrose1-AT-attbi.com
  "An optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds;
and the pessimist fears this is true." --James Bench Cabell, The Silver
Stallion, 1926

HTML VERSION:

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu [mailto:owner-bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu]On Behalf Of Brad Rose
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2002 1:13 PM
To: bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Subject: BHA: Request for Recommendations for a "Novice"

Bhaskar List Members,

I am new to this list, and am seeking some help and recommendations. I'm an applied sociologist (I evaluate educational and human service programs, for a living) and am newly studying critical realism. I must say that I=92ve found Bhaskar=92s work, although clearly very important, initially pretty heavy going. I am now trudging through the anthology Critical Realism Essential Readings, and simultaneously perusing Plato, etc.The Problems of Philosophy and Their Resolution. The latter book claims, apparently without irony, "to be his most accessible, to date."

My questions:

1. Are there secondary texts or articles that list members would recommend that would ease my initiation to Bhaskar, and more generally, critical realism? (I just finished , Philosophy of Social Science: the Philosophical Foundations of Social Thought, by Ted Benton and Ian Craib, which is a succinct and serviceable primer, with a chapter on CR.)

2. Are their accessible works that discuss the "practical" applications or perhaps "implications" of CR for social science research? (I=92ve enjoyed Andrew Sayer, Method in the Social Sciences, and would welcome other suggestions.)

3. Is there a preferred order for approaching Bhaskar=92s writings? For example, one reader suggested looking at his writings in reverse chronological order: "Philosophy and the Idea of Freedom," "Reclaiming Reality," "Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation," "The Possibility of Naturalism," and "A Realist Theory of Science."

Many thanks in advance for your suggestions and assistance. You may choose, if you would like, to reply off-list to: bradrose1-AT-attbi.com

Brad Rose, Ph.D.
e-mail: bradrose1-AT-attbi.com

"An optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true." --James Bench Cabell, The Silver Stallion, 1926