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Authors: Andrew McLachlan (NSW Department of Education)
This paper offers insights into how evaluators can harness realist methodology to better understand challenges of program implementation. Realist methodology is ideally suited to investigating a range of implementation problems (Dalkin et al., 2021). It is versatile in that it draws on theories from diverse fields of social inquiry. It is pragmatic in that the theories it adopts are good only in so far as they offer explanatory insight. And it is transferable; realist methodology seeks coherence not by generalising findings but by adhering closely to real-world conditions.
As for implementation science, its founding question seems purpose built for realist work; it aims to improve the uptake of evidence-based practices by investigating how and why program implementation is sustained. Yet despite the obvious affinity between realist methodology and implementation science, so far there have been few attempts to formalise the relationship (Sarkies et al., 2022). Part of the reason may lie with how implementation scientists understand context (Nilsen & Bernhardsson, 2019). Where realist practitioners develop contextually sensitive causal theories, implementation science research tends to rely on static variables like setting and determinant which lack the contextual sensitivity to easily transfer insights across locations.
This paper offers a practical solution. It shows how implementation concepts like fidelity (the degree of adherence to the original program design), adaptation (the process of modifying a program to achieve better fit), and translation (the ability to apply knowledge in real-world settings) can be creatively repurposed within a realist framework to investigate the implementation of action learning in schools (Aubusson et al., 2012). In demonstrating how to construct program theories that are responsive to changing contexts, the paper promises to equip evaluators with tools that can help them navigate the complexities of program implementation in their own work.
