We report on a consistent, microscopic calculation of the bound and scattering states in the 4 He system employing a realistic nucleon-nucleon potential in the framework of the resonating group model (RGM). We present for comparison with these microscopic RGM calculations the results from a charge-independent, Coulomb-corrected R-matrix analysis of all types of data for reactions in the A = 4 system. Comparisons are made between the phase shifts, and with a selection of measurements from each reaction, as well as between the resonance spectra obtained from both calculations. In general, the comparisons are favorable, but distinct differences are observed between the RGM calculations and some of the polarisation data. The partial-wave decomposition of the experimental data produced by the Rmatrix analysis shows that these differences can be attributed to just a few S-matrix elements, for which inadequate tensor-force strength in the N − N interaction used appears to be responsible.