Ray Pawson is Emeritus Professor of Social Research Methodology in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds.
Pawson's main interest lies in research methodology. He has written widely on the philosophy and practice of research, covering methods qualitative and quantitative, pure and applied, contemporaneous and historical. He is the author of 'Realist Synthesis', a new approach of literature review that, in the last years, has widely influenced systematic review practices of complex programmes and policies all over the world.