Policy Press
6 Researching transformative change over time
Abstract
Jerome, aged 14, is in a school isolation cubicle again for three days after he kicked another student. He feels anxious, depressed and angry. Recently, his best friend was fatally stabbed. Jerome is on an 18-month-long waiting list for mental healthcare. He used to be in top sets, but is now in third or fourth ones, and has lost touch with his friends. His father is in prison. His mother does three cleaning jobs and once more has failed to get all the Universal Credit payments she is owed. So after school, he is usually alone in the cold damp flat. He misses the youth club, now closed, where he could be warm and relax with friends, have fun, play music, and talk to supportive adults. He has been to A&E twice with knife wounds and was told to go to his GP for follow-up care. But the receptionists did not see this as urgent enough and told him he would have to wait for three weeks, so he did not make an appointment.1
There were 4.1 million children living in poverty in the UK in 2017– 18, 30 per cent of everyone aged under 18 years and up to 58 per cent in the most deprived areas.2 How can critical realism (CR) add to the present extensive health and illness research about them? This chapter summarises a range of useful CR concepts linked to transformative change over time.
Research reports tend to be static, presenting data about a brief period in the lives of the people concerned.
Abstract
Jerome, aged 14, is in a school isolation cubicle again for three days after he kicked another student. He feels anxious, depressed and angry. Recently, his best friend was fatally stabbed. Jerome is on an 18-month-long waiting list for mental healthcare. He used to be in top sets, but is now in third or fourth ones, and has lost touch with his friends. His father is in prison. His mother does three cleaning jobs and once more has failed to get all the Universal Credit payments she is owed. So after school, he is usually alone in the cold damp flat. He misses the youth club, now closed, where he could be warm and relax with friends, have fun, play music, and talk to supportive adults. He has been to A&E twice with knife wounds and was told to go to his GP for follow-up care. But the receptionists did not see this as urgent enough and told him he would have to wait for three weeks, so he did not make an appointment.1
There were 4.1 million children living in poverty in the UK in 2017– 18, 30 per cent of everyone aged under 18 years and up to 58 per cent in the most deprived areas.2 How can critical realism (CR) add to the present extensive health and illness research about them? This chapter summarises a range of useful CR concepts linked to transformative change over time.
Research reports tend to be static, presenting data about a brief period in the lives of the people concerned.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables iv
- List of examples v
- Acknowledgements vi
- Introduction 1
- Rethinking theories: the basis of practical research and problems with paradigms 11
- Basic critical realist concepts 41
- Structure and agency: making connections 65
- Health and illness research: value-free or value-laden? 95
- Four planes of social being: more connections 127
- Researching transformative change over time 145
- The point is to change it: connecting research to policy and practice 167
- ABCD – Articles, books, commentary and dictionary-glossary 181
- Notes 187
- References 207
- Index of subjects 237
- Index of names 243
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables iv
- List of examples v
- Acknowledgements vi
- Introduction 1
- Rethinking theories: the basis of practical research and problems with paradigms 11
- Basic critical realist concepts 41
- Structure and agency: making connections 65
- Health and illness research: value-free or value-laden? 95
- Four planes of social being: more connections 127
- Researching transformative change over time 145
- The point is to change it: connecting research to policy and practice 167
- ABCD – Articles, books, commentary and dictionary-glossary 181
- Notes 187
- References 207
- Index of subjects 237
- Index of names 243
