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The Importance of Qualitative Research for Causal Explanation in Education

The concept of causation has long been controversial in qualitative research, and many qualitative researchers have rejected causal explanation as incompatible with an interpretivist or constructivist approach. This rejection conflates causation with the positivist theory of causation, and ignores an alternative understanding of causation, variously known as a “generative,” “process,” or “realist” approach, which is influential in philosophy and is becoming widespread in the social sciences and history. This alternative approach to causation is compatible with the practice and “theory-in-use” of many qualitative researchers and enables qualitative researchers to credibly make and support causal claims. It also enables them to defend their work against the dismissal of qualitative methods by proponents of “science-based” research, since the latter assumes a positivist understanding of causation. Adequate causal explanations in the social sciences depend on the in-depth understanding of meanings, contexts, and processes that qualitative research can provide.