Retroductive theorizing in Pawson and Tilley's applied scientific realism

ABSTRACT The naturally occurring complexity of the social and natural worlds, along with rising challenges in the social, health and environmental domains, makes retroduction a compelling mode of inference in scientific research. As an antidote to ignorance, retroduction is key to understanding why the world is the way it is and to deriving solutions to complex problems. Retroduction is the activity of unearthing causal mechanisms. Mechanisms are latent and evade empirical measurement. This paper expands on these statements, to define what retroduction is and build upon the following concepts in scientific realism: (a) abduction; (b) ontological depth; (c) inference sufficiency; (d) latency and activation; and (e) approximation and accumulation. Using everyday examples, retroduction is demonstrated and applied to Pawson and Tilley's (1997) doctrine of the Scientific Realist paradigm and its application as a methodology for evaluation and research.

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