Assessing Critical Realism Vs Social Constructionism & Social Constructivism for a Social Housing Research Study

This chapter builds upon a paper that was published in 2018 which carried out a comparative analysis of the Critical Realist, Social Constructionist and Social Constructivist paradigms and investigated their potential impact on a proposed research study into an aspect of Social Housing in the UK. The research study that was subsequently undertaken formed the basis for a doctoral thesis that was submitted in 2019 and approved in 2020. In part one of this document the content of the original paper will be updated and in part two the application of the chosen approach to the research project will be described. Part one presents an overview of each of the philosophies that were under consideration for the study. It describes the background and core aspects of each philosophy - Critical Realism, Social Constructionism and Social Constructivism. The strengths and weaknesses of each philosophy is assessed to evaluate its potential suitability for the research that is to be undertaken into an aspect of Social Housing. The impact of the different approaches on the proposed research study identified that the Critical Realist philosophy was the most suitable. Part two of the chapter describes how the Critical Realist philosophical approach was applied to the research that was undertaken and provides an update to the contribution of the research to the final doctoral thesis.