Critical Realism: A Philosophy of Science for Responsible Business and Management Research

2020 ◽  
pp. 17-34
Author(s):  
Tim Rogers ◽  
Benito Teehankee
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Management Research ◽  
Business And Management

scholarly journals Reviewer acknowledgements for Business and Management Research, Vol. 10, No. 3

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Simon Lee
Keyword(s):  
Management Research ◽  
Business And Management

Reviewer acknowledgements for Business and Management Research, Vol. 10, No. 3, 2021. 

Experimental Designs in Business Research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heiko Breitsohl
Keyword(s):  
Internal Validity ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Experimental Designs ◽  
Management Research ◽  
Natural Experiments ◽  
Managerial Decisions ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Statistical Conclusion ◽  
Business And Management

Conducting credible and trustworthy research to inform managerial decisions is arguably the primary goal of business and management research. Research design, particularly the various types of experimental designs available, are important building blocks for advancing toward this goal. Key criteria for evaluating research studies are internal validity (the ability to demonstrate causality), statistical conclusion validity (drawing correct conclusions from data), construct validity (the extent to which a study captures the phenomenon of interest), and external validity (the generalizability of results to other contexts). Perhaps most important, internal validity depends on the research design’s ability to establish that the hypothesized cause and outcome are correlated, that variation in them occurs in the correct temporal order, and that alternative explanations of that relationship can be ruled out. Research designs vary greatly, especially in their internal validity. Generally, experiments offer the strongest causal inference, because the causal variables of interest are manipulated by the researchers, and because random assignment makes subjects comparable, such that the sources of variation in the variables of interest can be well identified. Natural experiments can exhibit similar internal validity to the extent that researchers are able to exploit exogenous events creating (quasi-)randomized interventions. When randomization is not available, quasi-experiments aim at approximating experiments by making subjects as comparable as possible based on the best available information. Finally, non-experiments, which are often the only option in business and management research, can still offer useful insights, particularly when changes in the variables of interest can be modeled by adopting longitudinal designs.

Critical Realism

2021 ◽  
pp. 69-72
Author(s):  
Dominik Giese ◽  
Jonathan Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Scientific Realism ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
The Real ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Ontological Question ◽  
The World

This chapter evaluates critical realism, a term which refers to a philosophy of science connected to the broader approach of scientific realism. In contrast to other philosophies of science, such as positivism and post-positivism, critical realism presents an alternative view on the questions of what is ‘real’ and how one can generate scientific knowledge of the ‘real’. How one answers these questions has implications for how one studies science and society. The critical realist answer starts by prioritizing the ontological question over the epistemological one, by asking: What must the world be like for science to be possible? Critical realism holds the key ontological belief of scientific realism that there is a reality which exists independent of our knowledge and experience of it. Critical realists posit that reality is more complex, and made up of more than the directly observable. More specifically, critical realism understands reality as ‘stratified’ and composed of three ontological domains: the empirical, the actual, and the real. Here lies the basis for causation.

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