Evaluating complex public health interventions: theory, methods and scope of realist enquiry.
The standard models used in the study of complex public health interventions are inadequate. They adopt a simple empiricist theoretical foundation and attempt to graft onto an essentially open social system a contrived laboratory experimentation typically in the form of a randomized, controlled trial. By understanding the ontological and epistemological claims of critical realism, it is possible to transcend the methodological inadequacy of the standard model approach. Critical realism posits a substantive causal theory, an end to fact-value dualism, and a coherent and emancipatory model of social action; all of these features amount to a systematic and compelling account of public health practice and a coherent approach to evaluation of complex public health interventions.
Connelly
James B
JB
Institute of Health Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK. j.b.connelly@reading.ac.uk
D015982:Bias; D015984:Causality; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009014:Morals; D011634:Public Health; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012107:Research Design; D012922:Social Change; D012945:Social Values