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that murder has taken place is compatible with what is known, so this provides a degree of plausibility, though relatively weak; finding the body would increase the plausibility. To strengthen the basis for making a judgment about who was the killer it is necessary to make sure that the witness was where he or she claimed to have seen the murder; had a clear view of what went on; that what was seen is strongly indicative of murder; and so on. In seeking further evidence we may want information about the witness (how good is the eyesight, does he or she have any reason to lie, and so on), facts about the scene, or testimony from other witnesses. In this way a case can be built for concluding that a murder took place and who did it, that it did not take place, or that the validity of the witness's statement remains uncertain. Nevertheless, any claim about the murder remains fallible, even if it is beyond reasonable doubt.
37:
756:, London, Palgrave Macmillan, p. 45: "Nor, however, would we follow those social theorists who would 'deny there is something beyond the accounts that people give' (May, 1993: 107): that is, the constructionist position that holds that interviews are only really of value in understanding the discursive and conversational techniques used by people to create accounts. Our position is, we think, close to what Hammersley calls 'subtle realism' (1992: 53)."
749:(pp. 168–186), London, Palgrave Macmillan, p. 168: "Hammersley (1992) has coined the term 'subtle realism' and Bhaskar 'critical realism' to convey the idea that researchers can convey truths about social phenomena whilst also maintaining a critical perspective on the constructed nature of the available evidence."
591:. The latter is the idea that knowledge must be a direct product of contact between an investigator and an independently existing reality, this contact taking place via the senses or by some other direct means. A corollary of naïve realism is that, without such immediate contact, no knowledge is possible.
642:
To use a commonplace example from detective stories, a witness claims to have seen someone murdered. A first basis for judging this is whether or not the allegedly murdered person is known to be still alive—if so, the claim is very implausible. If the person concerned has disappeared, then the claim
646:
The implications of subtle realism for social research are that scientific investigation of social phenomena is possible and desirable; and that it is quite distinct from, even though it shares some characteristics with, the production of literary or artistic fictions or the pursuit of practical or
742:(pp. 99–102), London, Sage, p. 101: "What one might call 'post postmodern ethnography' advocates the possibility and desirability of systematic ethnography and remains rooted in weaker versions of realism. The best example would be Martyn Hammersley's notion of 'subtle realism'."
774:, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, p. 14: "Shaw suggests that children's accounts must bear some relation to our 'approximate understanding of real social conditions' (p.27), displaying what Martyn Hammersley calls 'subtle realism' (Hammersley 1992)."
763:(pp. 211–233), Fourth edition, Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons, p. 216: "The role of qualitative and quantitative research is thus to attempt to represent that reality rather than to imagine that 'the truth' can be attained. Hammersley calls this
556:, or is the character of what is investigated determined, structured, or shaped by the research? Subtle realism insists that phenomena are independent, but that knowledge of them is always constructed by the investigator—rather than, for example, being
622:
plausibility—the relationship between a knowledge claim and what is already taken to be well-established knowledge (Does it follow logically from this? Is it more weakly implied by this? Is it compatible with this? Is it at odds with
638:
plausibility and credibility. Beside the search for evidence, further information may also be sought about how the knowledge claim, or relevant evidence, was produced—so as to have better grounds for assessing its credibility.
611:, the latter being decided on the basis of what is beyond reasonable doubt; and that any understanding or knowledge produced comprises answers to particular questions about the phenomena, rather than capturing those phenomena "
599:
Against relativism, subtle realism asserts that there is a single reality (not multiple realities corresponding to different perspectives), and that it is possible to gain knowledge of the phenomena that make up this reality.
655:
that people do during the course of everyday life; though the questions it addresses are usually much more difficult to answer than mundane ones, and it employs refined methods designed to tackle those questions.
607:
derived from, or proven absolutely via, sense impressions or any other kind of immediately given data; that a distinction must be drawn between what is true and what can be believed with
630:
Faced with a knowledge claim that is neither sufficiently plausible nor credible to be beyond reasonable doubt, determining its likely truth depends upon the
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180:
443:
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Maxwell, Joseph A. and
Mittapalli, Kavita (2015) "Realism as a Stance for Mixed Methods Research", in Abbas Tashakkori and Charles Teddlie (eds)
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583:. As with these other examples, subtle realism involves a contrast with rejected alternatives, in this case not just with forms of
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453:
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credibility—how the knowledge claim was produced, specifically what were the chances of error in its production.
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759:
Mays, N., & Pope, C. (2020) "Quality in
Qualitative Research", in Catherine Pope & Nicholas Mays (eds)
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phenomena, or capture their essence, but can only produce answers to particular questions about them.
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political goals. Equally important, it does not differ fundamentally in character from the ordinary
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Fincham, B., Langer, S., Scourfield, J., & Shiner, M. (2011) "Lessons for
Prevention", in
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being studied: are those phenomena and their characteristics independent of the process of
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is a philosophical position within social science that, along with other forms of
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36:
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The A–Z of Social
Research: A Dictionary of Key Social Science Research Concepts
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The A–Z of Social
Research: A Dictionary of Key Social Science Research Concepts
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Brewer, John (2011) "Ethnography", in Robert L. Miller & John Brewer (eds)
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Scanlan, L., Douglas, G., Robinson, M. G., Butler, I., & Murch, M. (2003)
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Porter, Sam (2011) "Realism", in Robert L. Miller & John Brewer (eds)
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548:. Its central issue is the relationship between the investigator and the
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Divorcing
Children: Children's Experience of Their Parents' Divorce
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28:
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SAGE Handbook of Mixed
Methods in Social & Behavioral Research
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available to support it. This evidence, in turn, is judged upon
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Disconnected Youth? Growing up in
Britain's Poor Neighbourhoods
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Deciding what is beyond reasonable doubt involves assessing:
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What's wrong with ethnography? Methodological explorations
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Madill, Anna (2012) "Realism", in Lisa M. Given (ed.)
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Against naive realism it holds that beliefs cannot be
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865:
863:
849:
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615:"—in other words, it cannot simply reproduce them.
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920:
844:
886:, Second edition, London, Longman, Ch 4.
726:, Second edition, London, Longman, Ch 3.
560:. It also asserts that social inquiry cannot
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828:, Thousand Oaks CA, Sage, pp. 732–735.
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499:
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558:logically derived from sense impressions
444:Library and information science software
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752:MacDonald, R., & Marsh, J. (2005)
439:Geographic information system software
910:The Quality of Qualitative Research
761:Qualitative Research in Health Care
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14:
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789:, London, Routledge, Chs 1 and 3.
902:
897:Questioning Qualitative Inquiry
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876:
873:, London, Routledge, Ch 4.
857:, London, Routledge, Ch 1.
841:, London, Routledge, Ch 3.
713:, London, Routledge, Ch 3.
871:What's Wrong with Ethnography?
855:What's Wrong with Ethnography?
839:What's Wrong with Ethnography?
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787:What's Wrong with Ethnography?
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884:Reading Ethnographic Research
724:Reading Ethnographic Research
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912:, London: Sage, p. ix.
666:Epistemic theories of truth
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575:, epistemological realism,
567:There are many concepts of
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899:, London, Sage, Ch 8.
815:, Thousand Oaks CA, Sage.
544:. The term was coined by
466:Qualitative data analysis
895:Hammersley, M. (2008)
882:Hammersley, M. (1998)
869:Hammersley, M. (1992)
853:Hammersley, M. (1992)
837:Hammersley, M. (1992)
785:Hammersley, M. (1992)
722:Hammersley, M. (1992)
709:Hammersley, M. (1998)
345:Inferential statistics
291:Descriptive statistics
238:Human subject research
929:Philosophical realism
747:Understanding Suicide
536:and various forms of
129:Philosophical schools
573:metaphysical realism
532:, stands opposed to
454:Reference management
404:Scientific modelling
146:Critical rationalism
686:Scientific evidence
434:Argument technology
735:See, for example:
428:Tools and software
372:Secondary research
296:Discourse analysis
908:Seale, C. (1999)
691:Scientific method
546:Martyn Hammersley
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489:Philosophy portal
397:Systematic review
382:Literature review
340:Historical method
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88:Research strategy
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104:Qualitative
74:Referencing
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542:scepticism
538:relativism
476:Statistics
471:Simulation
409:Simulation
350:Interviews
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171:Pragmatism
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562:reproduce
550:phenomena
109:Art-based
923:Category
660:See also
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69:Argument
29:Research
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19:Part of
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64:Writing
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