Postpositivism
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Postpositivism or postempiricism is a
Philosophy
Epistemology
Postpositivists believe that human knowledge is based not on a priori assessments from an objective individual,
Ontology
Postpositivists believe that a reality exists, but, unlike positivists, they believe reality can be known only imperfectly.[2][3] Postpositivists also draw from social constructionism in forming their understanding and definition of reality.[3]
Axiology
While positivists believe that research is or can be value-free or value-neutral, postpositivists take the position that bias is undesired but inevitable, and therefore the investigator must work to detect and try to correct it. Postpositivists work to understand how their axiology (i.e. values and beliefs) may have influenced their research, including through their choice of measures, populations, questions, and definitions, as well as through their interpretation and analysis of their work.[3]
History
Historians identify two types of positivism: classical positivism, an empirical tradition first described by
One of the first thinkers to criticize logical positivism was Karl Popper. He advanced falsification in lieu of the logical positivist idea of verificationism.[3] Falsificationism argues that it is impossible to verify that beliefs about universals or unobservables are true, though it is possible to reject false beliefs if they are phrased in a way amenable to falsification.
In 1965, Karl Popper and
Thomas Kuhn is credited with having popularized and at least in part originated the post-empiricist philosophy of science.[6] Kuhn's idea of paradigm shifts offers a broader critique of logical positivism, arguing that it is not simply individual theories but whole worldviews that must occasionally shift in response to evidence.[3]
Postpositivism is not a rejection of the
Structure of a postpositivist theory
Robert Dubin describes the basic components of a postpositivist theory as being composed of basic "units" or ideas and topics of interest, "laws of interactions" among the units, and a description of the "boundaries" for the theory.[3] A postpositivist theory also includes "empirical indicators" to connect the theory to observable phenomena, and hypotheses that are testable using the scientific method.[3]
According to Thomas Kuhn, a postpositivist theory can be assessed on the basis of whether it is "accurate", "consistent", "has broad scope", "parsimonious", and "fruitful".[3]
Main publications
- Karl Popper (1934) Logik der Forschung, rewritten in English as The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959)
- Thomas Kuhn (1962) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
- Karl Popper (1963) Conjectures and Refutations
- Ian Hacking (1983) Representing and Intervening
- Andrew Pickering (1984) Constructing Quarks
- Peter Galison (1987) How Experiments End
- Nancy Cartwright (1989) Nature's Capacities and Their Measurement
See also
Notes
- ^ ISBN 9781118766804.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-631-21305-5.
- ^ ISBN 9787301124314.
- ^ ISBN 978-1412974738.
- ^ "Auguste Comte". Sociology Guide. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
- ^ Thomas, David 1979 Naturalism and social sciences, ch. Paradigms and social science, p.161
- ^ Trochim, William. "Social Research Methods Knowledge Base". socialresearchmethods.net.
References
- Alexander, J.C. (1995), Fin De Siecle Social Theory: Relativism, Reductionism and The Problem of Reason, London; Verso.
- Phillips, D.C. & Nicholas C. Burbules (2000): Postpositivism and Educational Research. Lanham & Boulder: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
- Zammito, John H. (2004): A Nice Derangement of Epistemes. Post-positivism in the study of Science from Quine to Latour. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press.
- Popper, K. (1963), Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge, London; Routledge.
- Moore, R. (2009), Towards the Sociology of Truth, London; Continuum.
External links