In our personal experiences, our thoughts are not like physical objects such as chairs or books. Instead, our thoughts are something intangible that cannot be detected by the senses. This can make thinking challenging, as it is like fighting blindfolded. Today, we are discussing two different perspectives on truth and reality: Pragmatism and Critical Realism.

Pragmatism is an important philosophy for both qualitative and quantitative research. The word “pragmatic” shares a root with the Greek word pragma, meaning action or efficiency. This philosophy emphasizes external reality and frames an individual’s view of reality through their actions and experiences in context. In Pragmatism, value is based on action rather than theoretical musings. The central idea behind Pragmatism is to focus on practical issues, making research more focused and broader in scope. Pragmatism combines positivism and interpretivism, allowing researchers to examine multiple worldviews as long as they are logical and practical in social life. Pragmatism relies on abductive reasoning to connect theory and data.

Critical Realism begins with a critique of positivism, which emphasizes objectivity and neutrality in scientific methods. Critical Realism encourages theory and philosophy in research and focuses on uncovering bias and prejudice in the conceptual realm. Positivity fails to theorize the difference between the natural and social world, assuming that we can follow the epistemological and methodological lead of natural science. However, the social world is much more complex and heterogeneous than anything in the natural world, composed of different forms of behaviour, institutions, culture, languages, beliefs, and practices. Critical Realism urges attending to philosophy to gain a better understanding of the background assumptions of our research methods and explanations.