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Dear all, Apologies for what may seem like a slightly simple question. I was wondering if anyone could advise me on sampling within realist evaluation studies? I am conducting a realist evaluation on an existing coach education programme as an external evaluator to inform my PhD research. I have a large sample size (from survey data) of sport coaches to select from to interview and will be purposively sampling participants through criterion-based sampling. I am still relatively new to conducting realist evaluations (this is my first study/interview informed for realist evaluations) and having read around this area and existing realist evaluation studies I was looking to sample those with positive experiences to varying degrees in the programme and sustainment of programme information into practice to understand what has worked for these individuals across a number contexts. I have also read around theoretical saturation and plan on interviewing individuals until saturation is reached. However, a colleague within my team recently raised a question re: the proposed sample group and questioned why I would not interview those who had a bad experience or who reported no value of the education programme through the survey and whether this would make the evaluation biased. I have attempted to read around this further but cannot seem to find a definitive guide around this. As I understood it, the purpose of interviews within the realist evaluation were to determine what worked within the programme, for whom and in which circumstance to inform, refute or develop the programme theory and therefore would suggest that the sample should reflect those where the programme had worked to some extent? It would be greatly appreciated if anyone has any advice on this or have had similar conversations with colleagues? Thanks in advance. Kind regards, Laura Quayle ________________________________ Important Notice: the information in this email and any attachments is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not an intended recipient, or a person responsible for delivering it to an intended recipient, you should delete it from your system immediately without disclosing its contents elsewhere and advise the sender by returning the email or by telephoning a number contained in the body of the email. No responsibility is accepted for loss or damage arising from viruses or changes made to this message after it was sent. The views contained in this email are those of the author and not necessarily those of Liverpool John Moores University.