Pragmatic is the ability to recognize and adapt to real-world situations, focusing on results and practical solutions rather than abstract ideas or theories. People who are pragmatic tend to be able to see the big picture and are not easily discouraged by challenges or setbacks. They focus on achieving tangible outcomes and can quickly change their course of action if needed. They are often described as being matter-of-fact and logical, and they tend to be very sensible people. Pragmatic is often contrasted with idealistic, which refers to a person who has high principles and ideals that they are unwilling to compromise on.
Pragmatism is a philosophical school of thought that was developed by philosophers such as William James, Charles Sanders Peirce and John Dewey. It is an epistemology that focuses on the practical and social aspects of knowledge, embracing democratic processes and values and encouraging experimentation to find solutions that work in diverse contexts. Pragmatism is often viewed as being a middle-of-the-road position that seeks to take arguments from both sides of an issue into account.
Unlike more rigid research paradigms such as positivism and constructivism, pragmatism promotes an openness to the possibility of multiple ontological and epistemological truths. It also allows for a more holistic approach to understanding real-world problems, and it encourages the use of multiple research methodologies in the same study. Pragmatism has been widely adopted in the field of patient-oriented research (POR), which is a growing area of health care research that emphasizes the role of patients as partners in decision making and identifies strategies to improve governance and societal well-being.
The concept of pragmatism is closely related to the pragmatics of language and communication, which is the study of how meaning is determined in different contexts and circumstances. This includes the ways in which one and the same word can convey different meanings based on culture, environment or other factors, as well as how contextual information influences the interpretation of a given sentence or phrase. Pragmatics has many branches, including linguistic semantics, discourse analysis, conversational implicature and speech act theory.
A more recent development in the pragmatic philosophy is the idea of pragmatism as a method for conducting research and solving real-world problems. This pragmatic approach to research is based on the belief that the best way to know something is to test it out, so researchers will attempt to make as much of an impact on their community as possible by using as many different strategies and methods as necessary.
As such, this methodology enables researchers to produce impactful and ethically responsible knowledge in a variety of ways. It can also help to reduce bias, as it avoids the tendency to privilege particular forms of evidence over others. This is especially important for researchers who are working with patients or other stakeholders who may have conflicting interests or priorities. It can also be useful in identifying and addressing limitations within research designs. For example, pragmatism can help incentivize the use of qualitative data that is otherwise under-reported or ignored.