Pragmatic is a philosophical approach that steers clear of metaphysical debates over truth and reality, and instead, emphasizes the value of practical understandings of real-world issues. It also offers a pragmatic epistemology that prioritizes experience as the source of knowledge, and is compatible with qualitative-dominant interpretivist understandings of socially constructed realities. Applied pragmatically, the philosophy of pragmatism is a powerful paradigm for conducting research on organizational processes.
Pragmatism is a philosophical approach that originated in the United States around 1870 and presents a third alternative to analytic and continental philosophy traditions worldwide. Its first generation was initiated by Charles Sanders Peirce and his Harvard colleague William James. Peirce’s and James’ work combines scientific revolution of the day with traditional analytic philosophical ideas to produce a new kind of pragmatism.
A central aspect of pragmatism is the notion that language and meaning are ambiguous and that there are a variety of possible interpretations for any statement or sentence. This ambiguity arises from the interaction of a number of different factors including culture, context, and individual perceptions and expectations. Pragmatists believe that the only way to overcome these ambiguities is through a dynamic interaction between the communicator and the listener in which the speaker seeks to be understood, and the listener seeks to understand the speaker.
This interactive process of establishing the mutually beneficial and meaningful nature of the communication is known as pragmatics. The pragmatist theory of pragmatics is grounded in four general rules, or maxims, that were developed by the philosopher of language Paul Grice. The maxims are: Be Cooperative, Be Concise, Be Polite, and Be Relevant. These rules are referred to as the Gricean Maxims and they are used to determine what is meant by the many ambiguous statements we encounter in daily life.
In the context of organizational processes, a pragmatic approach allows researchers to avoid a rigid, prescriptive framework, and flexibly adapt the research process according to the needs of case study NGOs. For example, in Project 1, a pragmatic approach to data collection was utilized in order to ensure that the sequence, dose and duration of data collection was flexible and allowed the research team to adapt according to the requirements of the NGO. The flexibility offered by a pragmatic approach to research enabled the researcher to develop a more holistic understanding of NGO processes.
This article explores how three of the core pragmatic principles, namely: an emphasis on actionable knowledge, recognition of the interconnectedness between knowing and acting, and inquiry as an experiential process can be incorporated in a qualitative research design. The article draws on two doctoral projects investigating the formal and informal practices of non-government organizations to illustrate how a pragmatic research framework can strengthen each stage of the research process from project design through to data collection, data analysis, conclusions and dissemination. This demonstrates that a pragmatic approach to research can provide a strong epistemological foundation that supports the development of a deeper understanding of organizational processes.
