Seven key insights from critical realism and their implications for ecological thinking and action in community psychology.

This article explores some of the possible links between community psychology and critical realism, a relatively new approach to the philosophy of science that has received little attention from community psychologists. Critical realism is presented in relation to seven key insights that can be linked to fundamental tenets of the ecological approach in community psychology. These insights are: (1) A complex reality exists independently of our ideas about it, and this reality is knowable, although imperfectly. (2) Reality is composed of a complex and stratified hierarchy of open systems. (3) Causality is best understood in terms of causal processes that may or may not be directly observable or generalizable; these processes involve complex interactions among generative mechanisms and contextual conditions. (4) Theory and theorizing about causal processes are central to both scientific explanation and practical action. (5) Theory exists at multiple levels of abstraction, ranging from models to metatheory. (6) A diversity of methods can provide evidence in the search for causal processes operating in context. (7) As social scientists, we have an obligation to use social science knowledge to promote human flourishing. Although these insights may be familiar to many community psychologists who adopt an ecological approach to their work, we suggest that clearly articulating these principles can provide more solid foundations for inquiry in the field. We conclude the article by highlighting how critical realism may help to bridge the research-practice gap in community psychology and similar social sciences.

Introduction to the special issue on critical realism.

This special issue explores how philosophy of science matters for both research and social action in community psychology. It explores the complex issue of what might be appropriate philosophical bases for community psychology theory, research, and practice. In particular, it focuses on critical realism, a relatively new approach to the philosophy of science. In this introductory article, we start by discussing the importance of philosophy of science for community psychologists. We then situate our subject by exploring the history of paradigms in community psychology. We next offer a brief description of critical realism by describing its assumptions on ontology (nature of the world), epistemology (theory of knowledge), axiology (theory of values), and methodology (theory of action).

Transforming Social Regularities in a Multicomponent Community-Based Intervention: A Case Study of Professionals' Adaptability to Better Support Parents to Meet Their Children's Needs.

This paper presents an in-depth case study of the dynamic processes of mutual adjustment that occurred between two professional teams participating in a multicomponent community-based intervention (CBI). Drawing on the concept of social regularities, we focus on patterns of social interaction within and across the two microsystems involved in delivering the intervention. Two research strategies, narrative analysis and structural network analysis, were used to reveal the social regularities linking the two microsystems. Results document strategies and actions undertaken by the professionals responsible for the intervention to modify intersetting social regularities to deal with a problem situation that arose during the course of one intervention cycle. The results illustrate how key social regularities were modified in order to resolve the problem situation and allow the intervention to continue to function smoothly. We propose that these changes represent a transition to a new state of the ecological intervention system. This transformation appeared to be the result of certain key intervening mechanisms: changing key role relationships, boundary spanning, and synergy. The transformation also appeared to be linked to positive setting-level and individual-level outcomes: confidence of key team members, joint planning, decision-making and intervention activities, and the achievement of desired intervention objectives.