Realist RCTs of complex interventions – An oxymoron

Bonell et al. discuss the challenges of carrying out randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate complex interventions in public health, and consider the role of realist evaluation in enhancing this design (Bonell, Fletcher, Morton, Lorenc, & Moore, 2012). They argue for a “synergistic, rather than oppositional relationship between realist and randomised evaluation” and that “it is possible to benefit from the insights provided by realist...