McEwan Kathryn, Girling Melissa, Bate Angela, Atkinson Joanne, Clarke Amanda, Dalkin Sonia
Dept of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing, Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Dept of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Int J Soc Res Methodol. 2023 Mar 12;27(4):417-430. doi: 10.1080/13645579.2023.2184920. eCollection 2024.
A crucial part of theory-driven realist thinking is retroduction, the process of looking backwards for explanation of how and why things may be. Conducted early in the realist evaluation process, it provides a foundation for evidenced 'theory gleaning'. Despite retroduction being an inherent part of the realist process, it is often 'hidden' in realist reports. This paper explains the thinking behind, alongside an example of, a framework created by the authors to make transparent the retroductive process as used in a realist evaluation of two community End of Life Care services. The approach makes visible the application of the 'sociological imagination' and lends robustness to hypotheses by establishing how the authors utilised: wide-ranging potential generative causation; stakeholder and Patient and Public Involvement feedback; literature scoping; and substantive theories at the middle range, specifically Transitions Theory. These stages led to the development of Initial Programme Theories, with a clear history of genesis.
理论驱动的现实主义思维的一个关键部分是溯因推理，即回顾过去以解释事情如何以及为何如此的过程。在现实主义评估过程的早期进行溯因推理，为基于证据的“理论收集”奠定了基础。尽管溯因推理是现实主义过程的固有组成部分，但它在现实主义报告中常常是“隐藏”的。本文解释了作者创建的一个框架背后的思路，并给出了一个示例，该框架旨在使在对两项社区临终关怀服务的现实主义评估中所使用的溯因过程变得透明。该方法使“社会学想象力”的应用变得可见，并通过确定作者如何利用广泛的潜在生成性因果关系、利益相关者以及患者和公众参与反馈、文献综述以及中观层面的实质性理论（特别是转型理论），增强了假设的稳健性。这些阶段促成了初始项目理论的发展，且有着清晰的起源历史。
