Chapter 2: Realist Review: Promoting Diverse Stakeholder Engagement

Despite the recent expansion of diversity scholarship, related research often remains siloed within specific academic disciplines, limiting the capacity for cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Toward the goal of establishing interdisciplinary perspectives on diversity and inclusion, this chapter seeks to outline the realist review as a potentially useful method in promoting diverse stakeholder engagement. The chapter explores the theoretical context of interdisciplinary and diverse stakeholder engagement and describes different settings in which realist review methodologies have been successful. The chapter then outlines the realist review process and explains its relevancy to participatory research and diverse stakeholder engagement. By developing a theoretically-grounded model of stakeholder-engaged and cross-cultural research, this chapter aims to achieve a more dynamic interdisciplinary process and contribute to existing literature on best practices.