Pragmatic is a word that describes people or ideas that are practical, logical, and sensible. People who are pragmatic tend to consider all the possible outcomes of their actions and plans, and they weigh those consequences against the cost of pursuing their ideals. Pragmatic people are not necessarily less moral than those who stick strictly to their principles, but they are more likely to be willing to compromise in the interest of achieving their goals.
Applied fields like public administration, leadership studies, political science, and international relations all have incorporated the pragmatist approach to their theories. For example, a pragmatic leader will assess the distribution of power and resources in a situation before making decisions to maximize their chances of success. A pragmatist therapist may also choose a method of therapy based on the type of problem and the patient’s current condition rather than on a theoretical model that has no real-world application.
In linguistics, the pragmatic study of language takes into account speakers’ communicative intentions and contexts to understand what they mean by a particular phrase or sentence. For example, the sentence “A stolen painting was found by a tree” has two possible meanings: either it means that a sentient tree stole the painting or it simply refers to the act of finding a lost item. Understanding the pragmatic meaning of a sentence allows you to interpret other sentences correctly and make better decisions in conversation.
A neopragmatist philosopher named Robert Brandom has proposed a framework to reintegrate analytic and pragmatic philosophy by focusing on the semantic meaning of words rather than their grammatical form. However, he has been critical of the way in which traditional pragmatists focus on linguistic meaning without considering the wider social context in which language is used and how that context influences semantic interpretation.
In research, a pragmatic perspective emphasizes that researchers should collect information in ways that are flexible and adaptive to their research questions. This form of data collection is called abduction and is a key principle of pragmatism, in contrast to the more static and theory-driven methods of deduction or induction that are used in other fields.
In the context of qualitative research, a pragmatic approach can be useful in ensuring that research results are meaningful and relevant to organizational processes. The pragmatic approach allows researchers to steer clear of metaphysical debates about the nature of truth and reality, and instead focus on establishing a concrete understanding of the socially constructed realities that influence how we experience our worlds. In addition, it enables researchers to interrogate the value of research through its practical implications. This article explores how a pragmatic perspective can serve as a valuable epistemological framework for research on non-government organizations (NGOs). It uses two doctoral dissertation projects on NGOs to illustrate how an explicit pragmatism approach strengthens each stage of the research process: research design, data collection and analysis, and dissemination. In addition, the article identifies how this research methodology can benefit from an emphasis on actionable knowledge and the recognition of the interconnectedness between knowing, doing and learning.