Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti

Research methodology and data
realism refuses to adopt the extreme, even naïve realism that suggests that
the external world is as it is perceived. Instead, critical realism recognizes
that perception is a function of the human mind, and knowledge of the
external world can only be acquired by critical reflection on perception. In
this sense, the critical realist perspective is positioned in between the two
extremes of the realist and the interpretivist approaches.
A basic idea involved in critical realism is that human beings cannot
directly observe or have knowledge of the all the underlying structures and
mechanisms that affect events. Instead, critical realism suggests that the
world is stratified and consist of three domains: the empirical, the actual
and the real (cf. Leca & Naccache, 2006). The domain of empirical consists
of experienced events, including the actors’ sensations, impressions and
perceptions. This level is accessible and observable for the actors. The
domain of actual includes the events that actually happen, whether they are
observed or not. Researchers may be able to identify some events even if
the actors themselves are not able to view them, due to the researchers’
particular focus and training. Finally, the domain of real concerns the
underlying structures and causal powers that generate the events, providing
causal explanations for what takes place in the domain of actual and what is
observed in the domain of empirical. The author of the dissertation shares
the assumption that deeper structures or mechanisms shape the events that
are observed at a surface level. The researcher’s task is to make an attempt
to illuminate the effects of these underlying structures and causal
mechanisms. Another, related assumption of the critical realist perspective
is also shared by the author, stating that organizational actors are
simultaneously constrained and enabled by reality, and also able to affect
reality (Leca & Naccache, 2006).
Critical realism emphasizes ontology over epistemology in the sense that
it does not dictate which research methods are the most appropriate
(Fleetwood, 2007). Still, the critical realist perspective has some
implications for the methodology of the current study. By highlighting the
stratified nature of reality, critical realism favors qualitative in-depth
exploration (Fleetwood, 2007). The critical realist approach also directs
attention to the contextuality of phenomena, as contextual conditions are
believed to dictate the way how the causal powers of structures develop
(Leca & Naccache, 2006). In the current study, this directs attention to the
organizational context of the investigated phenomenon, boundary activities
at change program initiation, highlighting the need to characterize
contextual factors of change programs and analyze causal mechanisms that
might explain the observations. Recognizing the difficulties in studying the
events, underlying structures, and related causal mechanisms, careful
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