Strange Bedfellows: Exploring Methodological Intersections Between Realist Inquiry and Structural Equation Modeling

Abstract

Realist inquiry, based on the philosophy of critical realism, focuses on exploring the underlying mechanisms that drive social phenomena. Structural equation modeling is a collection of quantitative analytical methods that take a theory-based, confirmatory approach to examining statistical relationships between measured (observable) and underlying (latent) variables. Despite originating from different scientific traditions, the apparent similarities between these two approaches hold promise for their combination in mixed methods research. This article contributes to the field of mixed methods research by exploring their potential synergies, how each approach could contribute to the other, and proposing a framework for their combinations in mixed methods research, which has implications in terms of the implied and explicit ontological and epistemological positionings of these two approaches.