In this conversation, Justin Jagosh—Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Realist Evaluation and Synthesis—joins the podcast to unpack retroduction, a distinctive feature of the realist approach.

Through metaphors, real-world examples, and decades of experience, Justin offers a remarkably accessible and rigorous guide to what retroduction is, how it differs from inductive and deductive reasoning, and how to actually do it in practice. He shares key tips for developing explanatory programme theories, navigating complex interventions, and avoiding common pitfalls in realist evaluation and synthesis.