Greenhalgh, J orcid.org/0000-0003-2189-8879 and Manzano, A orcid.org/0000-0001-6277-3752 (2022) Understanding ‘context’ in realist evaluation and synthesis. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 25 (5). pp. 583-595. ISSN 1364-5579
Abstract
Context is a key concept in developing realist causal explanations but its conceptualisation has received comparatively less attention. We conducted a review to explore how context is conceptualised within realist reviews and evaluations. We purposively selected 40 studies to examine: How is context defined? And how is context operationalised in the findings? We identified two key ‘narratives’ in the way context was conceptualised: 1) Context as observable features (space, place, people, things) that triggered or blocked the intervention; assuming that context operates at one moment in time and sets in motion a chain reaction of events. 2) Context as the relational and dynamic features that shaped the mechanisms through which the intervention works; assuming that context operates in a dynamic, emergent way over time at multiple different levels of the social system. These two context narratives have different implications for the design, goals and impact of realist reviews and evaluations.
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. | ||||
Keywords: | causality; complexity; Context; realist evaluation; realist synthesis | ||||
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Institution: | The University of Leeds | ||||
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Sociology and Social Policy (Leeds) | ||||
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Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications | ||||
Date Deposited: | 23 Apr 2021 12:05 | ||||
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:38 | ||||
Status: | Published | ||||
Publisher: | Routledge | ||||
Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2021.1918484 |
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