Realist evaluation

Eldh, A.C. and Seers, K. and Rycroft-Malone, J. (2020) Realist evaluation. In: Handbook on Implementation Science :. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., pp. 505-511. ISBN 9781788975988

Abstract

This chapter describes and discusses realist evaluation, an approach that offers a middle ground between positivism and relativism, providing a means of understanding the complexity of how and why things work or do not work in health care. Realist evaluation has attracted increasing interest from researchers in implementation science, which may reflect a growing need to better understand the process, context and outcomes of implementation efforts. This chapter describes several implementation studies that have used realist evaluation, and the pros and cons of using this approach in this field. The concluding remarks comment on the importance of having sufficient competence and resources to apply realist evaluation to understand the complexity of implementation.