1. From ‘wickedity’ to tameness
From ‘wickedity’ to tameness? Reflections on the application of critical realism to researching higher education
Karin Crawford
University of Lincoln, UK
and
Jennifer Wright
Cape Peninsula University of Technology,
South Africa
July 2010

2. Introduction
Our experience of using critical realism to guide research in our higher education (HE) contexts;
Focus - the role of discourse in HE:
English: influences on academics’ conceptualisations of CPD in HE (inward focus);
SA: role of discourse in knowledge constitution in HE context embedded in workplace (inward and outward focus);
Critical Realism;
Provided appropriate philosophical orientation and
Guided research process.

3. Issue of ‘wickedity’ Discourse studies postmodern
Characteristics of ‘wicked’ problems/issues in research studies
IS fully ‘tamed’ research realistic and achievable?
Advocate Critical Realism appropriate to guide HE research

4. Critical realism as meta-theory
Guides methodology:
Provides alternative insight into reality;
Explicit purpose: seek causal explanations;
Ensures explicit researcher positionality;
Influences research design;
Guides analysis;
Provides perspectives on knowledge, language and practice;
Is inclusive and comprehensive but critical of other positions that ignore ontology;
Counters dominant discourses.

5. English research example
Qualitative, comparative case study;
Continuing professional development (CPD) in higher education;
‘Wicked’ context:
Complexity of definition, meaning and interpretation;
Multiple levels of influence;
Extra-institutional;
Intra-institutional;
Individual;
Continuity and change. 5

6. Influence of critical realism
Critical realism informed:
the aims and objectives;
the research design and process;
the analytical frame;
Enabled exploration of the ‘relationship between structure and agency or enablement and constraint’ (Scott 2000: 3);
Causal mechanisms can result in events and produce ‘tendencies’ – it is these tendencies that the study set out to understand and explain. 6

7. The challenges of taming the ‘wickedity’
There is no inevitable, predictable outcome or response (Archer 2007);
Over time, society is continually reshaped by the interplay between structure and agency (Archer 1982, 1995, 2003);
Knowledge is fallible – BUT ‘practical adequacy’ means that tentative explanations can be useful in the contemporary context (Sayer 1992);
‘Many mechanisms may be concurrently active’ (Danermark et al 2002: 70). 7

8. ‘Wicked’ issues researching CPD in HE
‘Language gives rather than reflects meaning’ (Usher, R. 1996: 27)
The notions of ‘professional’ and a value-base in academia
Incompatible initiatives and priorities
Supportive networks
The significance of agency 8

9. South African research example
Ethnographic case study
‘Wicked’ issue
Unique
Multiple causal layers
ill-defined
Multiple interpretations of knowledge constitution
Radiography
Ideal radiographer
Curriculum

10. Influence of critical realism
Guided methodology:
Ontological depth;
Causality;
Positionality;
Research design;
Analysis;
Knowledge and language.

11. ‘Wickedity’ in research
It is difficult to tame research;
Necessary or contingent relationship between empirical discourse and causal mechanism/s
Possible combination of 2+ mechanisms
Unpredictable emergence over time

12. Conclusion
In both examples the explicit use of the meta theory of critical realism
Enabled ontological depth;
Informed a clear non-conflationary stance regarding culture, structure and agency;
Recognised multi-dimensional complexity;
Resulted in an inclusive, comprehensive approach within which linkages and relationships are clearly analysed and articulated.
Critical realism provided a multi-layered philosophical framework and conceptual tools suited to the ‘wickidety’ of the complex HE research site.

13. University of Lincoln, UK kcrawford@lincoln.ac.uk and Jennifer Wright
Karin Crawford
University of Lincoln, UK
and
Jennifer Wright
Cape Peninsula University of Technology,
South Africa 13