Editing Postpositivism

{{Short description|Metatheoretical stance on scientific inquiry}}
{{for|one of its specific applications|Postpositivism (international relations)}}
{{Sociology}}
{{Postmodernism}}
{{Research}}

'''Postpositivism''' or '''postempiricism''' is a [[metatheoretical]] stance that critiques and amends [[positivism]]<ref name="Bergman2016">{{cite book|last1=Bergman|first1=Mats|title=The International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy|date=2016|isbn=9781118766804|pages=1–5|ref=IntEncycCTP|doi=10.1002/9781118766804.wbiect248|chapter=Positivism}}</ref> and has impacted theories and practices across [[philosophy]], [[social science]]s, and various [[models of scientific inquiry]]. While positivists emphasize independence between the researcher and the researched person (or object), postpositivists argue that theories, hypotheses, background knowledge and values of the researcher can influence what is observed.<ref name="Robson2002">{{cite book|last=Robson|first=Colin|title=Real World Research. A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner-Researchers|year=2002|publisher=Blackwell|location=Malden|isbn=978-0-631-21305-5|pages=624|edition=Second}}</ref> Postpositivists pursue objectivity by recognizing the possible effects of biases.<ref name="Robson2002" /><ref name="kmiller_2007">{{cite book|last1=Miller|first1=Katherine|title=Communication theories : perspectives, processes, and contexts|date=2007|publisher=Peking University Press|location=Beijing|isbn=9787301124314|pages=35–45|edition=2nd}}</ref><ref name="TaylorLindlof2011" /> While positivists emphasize [[Quantitative research|quantitative]] methods, postpositivists consider both [[Quantitative research|quantitative]] and [[Qualitative research|qualitative]] methods to be valid approaches.<ref name="TaylorLindlof2011">{{cite book|last1=Taylor|first1=Thomas R.|last2=Lindlof|first2=Bryan C.|title=Qualitative communication research methods|date=2011|publisher=SAGE|location=Thousand Oaks, Calif.|isbn=978-1412974738|pages=5–13|edition=3rd}}</ref>

==Philosophy==

===Epistemology===
Postpositivists believe that human knowledge is based not on a priori assessments from an objective individual,<ref name="TaylorLindlof2011"/> but rather upon human ''[[conjectural|conjectures]]''. As human knowledge is thus unavoidably conjectural, the assertion of these conjectures are ''warranted'', or more specifically, justified by a set of ''[[Theory of justification|warrant]]s'', which can be modified or withdrawn in the light of further investigation.  However, postpositivism is not a form of [[relativism]], and generally retains the idea of [[objective truth]].

===Ontology===
Postpositivists believe that a reality exists, but, unlike positivists, they believe reality can be known only imperfectly.<ref name="Robson2002" /><ref name="kmiller_2007" /> Postpositivists also draw from [[social constructionism]] in forming their understanding and definition of reality.<ref name="kmiller_2007" />

===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.<ref name="kmiller_2007" />

==History==
Historians identify two types of positivism: classical positivism, an empirical tradition first described by [[Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon|Henri de Saint-Simon]] and [[Auguste Comte]] in the first half of the 19th century,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.sociologyguide.com/thinkers/Auguste-Comte.php |title=Auguste Comte |encyclopedia=Sociology Guide |access-date=2 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907031259/http://www.sociologyguide.com/thinkers/Auguste-Comte.php |archive-date=7 September 2008 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref name="Bergman2016" /> and [[logical positivism]], which is most strongly associated with the [[Vienna Circle]], which met near Vienna, Austria, in the 1920s and 1930s.<ref name="kmiller_2007" /> Postpositivism is the name D.C. Phillips<ref name="kmiller_2007" /> gave to a group of critiques and amendments which apply to both forms of positivism.<ref name="kmiller_2007" />

One of the first thinkers to criticize [[logical positivism]] was [[Karl Popper]]. He advanced [[Falsifiability|falsification]] in lieu of the logical positivist idea of [[verificationism]].<ref name="kmiller_2007" /> 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]] had a [[Kuhn-Popper debate|debate]] as Thomas Kuhn's theory did not incorporate this idea of falsification. It has influenced contemporary research methodologies.

Thomas Kuhn is credited with having popularized and at least in part originated the post-empiricist philosophy of science.<ref>Thomas, David 1979 ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=-mY4AAAAIAAJ Naturalism and social sciences]'', ch. Paradigms and social science, p.161</ref> Kuhn's idea of [[paradigm shift]]s offers a broader critique of logical positivism, arguing that it is not simply individual theories but whole [[worldview]]s that must occasionally shift in response to evidence.<ref name="kmiller_2007" />

Postpositivism is not a rejection of the [[scientific method]], but rather a reformation of positivism to meet these critiques.  It reintroduces the basic assumptions of positivism: the possibility and desirability of [[objective truth]], and the use of [[experiment]]al [[methodology]]. The work of philosophers [[Nancy Cartwright (philosopher)|Nancy Cartwright]] and [[Ian Hacking]] are representative of these ideas.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} Postpositivism of this type is described in [[social science]] guides to research methods.<ref name="soc_rsch_Trochim">{{cite web|last1=Trochim|first1=William|title=Social Research Methods Knowledge Base|url=https://socialresearchmethods.net/kb|website=socialresearchmethods.net}}</ref>

==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.<ref name="kmiller_2007" /> A postpositivist theory also includes "empirical indicators" to connect the theory to observable phenomena, and hypotheses that are testable using the scientific method.<ref name="kmiller_2007" />

According to Thomas Kuhn, a postpositivist theory can be assessed on the basis of whether it is "[[Accuracy and precision|accurate]]", "[[Consistency|consistent]]", "has broad scope", "[[Occam's razor|parsimonious]]", and "fruitful".<ref name="kmiller_2007" />

==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 (philosopher)|Nancy Cartwright]] (1989) ''Nature's Capacities and Their Measurement''

==See also==
*[[Antipositivism]]
*{{annotated link|Jurisprudence of values}}
*[[Philosophy of science]]
*[[Scientism]]
*[[Sociology of scientific knowledge]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==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==
{{Library resources box}}
* [http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/positvsm.php Positivism and Post-positivism]

{{Positivism}}
{{Science and technology studies}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=August 2016}}

[[Category:Positivism]]
[[Category:Metatheory of science]]
[[Category:Epistemological theories]]