THEPOSI

TIVI
STMETHOD

Posi
ti
vi
sm Resear
chPhi
losophy

I
thast obeacknowledgedt hatt
heposi tivi
sm r esearchphilosophy
i
sdi ff
icul
ttobeexpl ai
nedinapr eciseandsucci nctmanner .Thisis
becauset herearevastdif
ferencesbet weenset ti
ngsi nwhi chposi t
ivism i
s
usedbyr esearchers.Thenumberv ar i
ati
onsi nexplainingposi ti
vism may
beequal tothenumberofaut hor
swhoaddr essedt hear eaofr esearch
phil
osophy .Nevert
heless,i
nitsessence, positi
vism isbasedont heidea
thatscienceistheonlywayt olearnaboutt het r
uth.Thet extbelow
explai
nsposi ti
vi
sm withthefocusonbusi nessst udiesinpar ti
cular.

 Posit i
v i
stspr ef erquant it
ativemet hodssuchassoci alsurveys,
structuredquest i
onnai r
esandof ficialstatisti
csbecausethesehav e
goodr eli
abi li
tyandr epresent ati
v eness.
 Positivistsseesoci etyasshapi ngt hei ndi
v idual
andbel i
evet hat
‘
soci al f
act s’shapei ndi
v i
dual action.
 Theposi ti
v isttraditi
onst ressest hei mport anceofdoingquant i
tat
ive
resear chsuchasl argescal esur v eysi nor dertogetanov erv i
ewof
societyasawhol eandt ouncov ersoci alt
r ends,suchasthe
relat
ionshi pbet weeneducat i
onal achi evementandsoci alclass.This
typeofsoci ologyi smor ei nterest edi nt r
endsandpat t
ernsr ather
thani ndividual s.
  Posi ti
vistsal sobelievethatsociologycanandshoul duset hesame
met hodsandappr oachest ostudythesocialwor l
dt hat“natural”
sciencessuchasbi ologyandphy sicsusetoinvestigatet hephy sical
wor l
d.Byadopt i
ng“scienti
fic”t
echniquessociologistsshouldbeabl e,
event ual l
y,touncov erthelawst hatgovernsocieti
esj ustassci entist
s
hav edi scov eredthelawst hatgov ernt
hephy si
cal wor l
d.
I nposi tivistresearch,sociologi
ststendtolookforr elat
ionships, or
‘
cor relations’ bet
weent woormor ev ar
iabl
es.Thisisknownast he
compar ativ
emet hod.

Posi
ti
vi
sm:I
ntr
oduct
ion
Asaphi l
osophy,positi
vi
sm adher est othev iewt hatonly“factual”
knowl edgegainedt hr
oughobser vat
ion( t
hesenses) ,i
ncluding
measur ement ,
istrustworthy.Inpositiv
ism st udi
est heroleoft he
researcherisli
mitedtodat acol l
ecti
onandi nterpret
ation inanobj ectiv
e
way .I
nt hesetypesofst udiesresearchf i
ndingsar eusual l
yobser vableand
quantifi
able.
Positi
v i
sm dependsonquant if
iableobser vati
onst hatleadt ostati
stical
analyses.Ithasbeennot edt hat“asaphi losophy ,positi
vi
sm isi n
accordancewi ththeempi rici
stviewt hatknowl edgest emsf rom human
exper ience.I thasanat omi stic, ontologicalviewoft hewor ldascompr i
sing
discr et e,obser vableel ement sandev entsthati nteracti nanobser vable,
det ermi nedandr egul armanner ”
Mor eov er,inposi ti
v i
sm st udi est her esearcheri sindependentf ormt he
studyandt herear enopr ov i
sionsf orhumani nterestswi thi
nt he
study .Cr owt herandLancast er( 2008)ar guet hatasagener alr
ule,
posi tiviststudi esusual l
yadoptdeduct i
veappr oach, wher easinduct i
ve
resear chappr oachi susual lyassoci atedwi thaphenomenol ogyphi losophy.
Mor eov er,
posi ti
vism r elatest ot hev iewpoi ntthatr esear cherneedst o
concent rateonf act s,wher easphenomenol ogyconcent ratesont he
meani ngandhaspr ov i
sionf orhumani nterest.
Resear cherswar nt hat“ i
fy ouassumeaposi tivi
stappr oacht oy ourst udy,
theni tisy ourbel iefthaty ouar ei ndependentofy ourr esear chandy our
resear chcanbepur elyobj ect i
v e.Independentmeanst haty oumai ntain
mi nimal i
nteractionwi thy ourr esear chpar ti
cipant swhencar ryi
ngouty our
resear ch.”Inot herwor ds, studi eswi thposi ti
vistpar adigm ar ebasedpur ely
onf act sandconsi dert hewor ldt obeext er
nal andobj ect i
ve.
Fi
vemai
npr
inci
plesofposi
ti
vi
sm r
esear
chphi
losophy
 Ther
ear
enodi
ff
erencesi
nthel
ogi
cofi
nqui
ryacr
osssci
ences.
 Ther
esear
chshoul
dai
mtoexpl
ainandpr
edi
ct.
 Resear
chshoul
dbeempi
ri
cal
l
yobser
vabl
evi
ahumansenses.
I
nduct
iver
easoni
ngshoul
dbeusedt
odev
elopst
atement
s
(
hypot
heses)t
obet
est
eddur
ingt
her
esear
chpr
ocess.
 Sci
encei
snott
hesameast
hecommonsense.Thecommonsense
shoul
dnotbeal
l
owedt
obi
ast
her
esear
chf
indi
ngs.
 Sci
encemustbev al
ue-
freeanditshoul
dbejudgedonlybylogi
c.
 Thefol
lowi
ngar eafewexampl esforst
udi
esthatadhereto
posi
ti
vi
sm researchphi
losophy:

TheGeneralI
deasofPosi
ti
vism –ort
heSci
ent
if
icMet
hod
Appl
iedt
otheStudyofSoci
ology

 Posi
ti
vist
sbeli
evethatsoci
ologycanandshoul
duset hesame
methodsandapproachestostudythesoci
alworl
dthat“natur
al”
sci
encessuchasbiologyandphysicsuset
oinvest
igat
et hephysi
cal
 wor
ld.

 Byadopti
ng“ sci
ent
ific”t
echniquessociol
ogi
stsshouldbeabl
e,
event
uall
y,touncoverthelawst hatgov
ernsociet
iesandsoci
al
behavi
ourjustasscienti
stshavediscover
edthelawsthatgover
nthe
physi
calworld.

 Positi
vi
stsbel i
evethatgood,sci
ent
if
icresearchshouldreveal
object
ivetruthsaboutthecausesofsocialacti
on–sci encetel
l
sus
thatwaterboi l
sat100degreesandthisistrueir
respecti
veofwhat
theresearcherthi
nks–goodsoci alr
esearchshouldt el
lussimil
ar
thi
ngsaboutsoci alacti
on

 Becausepositivi
stswantt ouncoverthegenerall
awst hatshape
humanbehav i
our,theyareint
erest
edi nlooki
ngatsocietyasawhol
e.
Theyareinterestedinexplai
ningpatt
er nsofhumanbehav i
ouror
generalsoci
al t
rends.Inotherwords,theyareint
erest
edingetti
ngt
o
the‘
biggerpicture’
.

 Todot his,posit
ivi
stsusequant i
tat iv
emet hodssuchasof fi
cial
stat
ist
ics,str
ucturedquestionnai
r esandsoci alsur
veys.Stati
stical,
numericaldataiscrucial
toPosi t
iv istresearch.Posi
ti
vist
sneedt o
coll
ectstati
sti
cal i
nfor
mat i
oninor dertomakecompar i
sons.Andi n
ordertouncov ergeneral
socialtrends.I tismuchmor edif
ficultto
makecompar isonsanduncov ersoci alt
rendswi t
hqualit
ativedat a.

 Thesemet hodsalsoal
lowt heresear
chertor
emainrelati
vel
y
detachedf rom t
heresearchprocess–thisway,t
hev al
uesofthe
researchershouldnotint
erferewitht
heresul
tsoftheresear
chand
knowledgeshoul dbeobjectiv
e
 Emi
leDur
khei
m(1858-
1917)–Posi
ti
vi
sm andQuant
it
ati
veSoci
ology

Themoder nacademicdiscipli
neofsoci ologybeganwi tht
hewor kofÉmi l
e
Durkhei
m( 1858–1917).WhileDur kheimr ej
ect
edmuchoft hedet ai
lsof
Comt e’
sphil
osophy“posit
ivi
sm” ,heretainedandr ef
inedit
smet hod.
Durkhei
m beli
evedthatsociologyshouldbeabl etopr edi
ctaccuratel
ythe
eff
ectofparti
cul
archangesi nsoci al
organisati
onsuchasani ncreasei
n
unemploymentorachangei ntheeducat i
onsy st
em.

Durkhei
m beli
evedtheprimarymeansofresearchi
ngsocietyshouldbethe
Compar at
iveMethodwhichinvolv
escomparinggroupsandl ooki
ngfor
corr
elat
ionsorrel
ati
onshipsbetween2ormor evari
ables.Thismethod
essenti
all
yseekstoestabli
shthecauseandeffectr
elati
onshipsi
nsociety
bycompar i
ngvari
ables.

Sci
enceasanUnder
lyi
ngGr
oundf
orPosi
ti
vi
sm:

Positi
vism oft
eninv
olvestheuseofexi sti
ngt heorytodevelophypot
heses
tobet estedduri
ngtheresearchprocess.Sciencecanbespeci fi
edasa
cornerstoneinposi
ti
vi
sm researchphilosophy .Specif
ical
l
y,
posit
ivism rel
i
esonthef ol
lowingaspectsoft hescience.
1.Sciencei
sdeter
mini
sti
c.Sci
ent
if
icapproachisbasedonassumpti
on
thatXcausesYundercer
tai
ncir
cumstances.Therol
eofresear
cher
 whenf oll
owi ngthesci entif
icappr oachi stodi scov erspecifi
cnat ur
e
ofcauseandef fectrelati
onshi ps.
2.Scienceismechani sti
c.Mechani cal natureofsci entif
icappr oachcan
beexpl ai
nedi nawayt hatresear cher sdev elophy pothesest obe
provedordi sprovedv i
aappl i
cationofspeci ficresear chmet hods.
Thisleadst othefactt hat
3.Scienceusesmet hod.Chosenmet hodsar eappl iedmechani call
yin
ordertooper ati
onalizetheor yorhy pothesis.Appl i
cationof
met hodologyinvolvessel ecti
onofsampl e, measur ement s,analysi
s
andr eachingconclusionsabouthy pot heses.
4.Sciencedeal swithempi r
icism.Inot herwor ds, scienceonl ydeals
withwhatcanbeseenormeasur ed.From t hisper spective,science
canbeassessedasobj ective.

Posi
ti
vi
sm
andI
nter
pret
ivi
sm
Posi
ti
vi
stsbeli
evesoci
etyshapesthei
ndi
vidual
anduse
quant
it
ati
vemethods,i
ntepr
eti
vi
stsbeli
eveindi
vi
dual
sshapesoci
etyand
usequal
it
ati
vemethods.
Sour
ces

Coll
i
ns,H.(2010)“Creat
iveResear
ch:TheTheor
yandPr
act
iceofResear
chf
ort
he
Cr
eati
veI
ndustr
ies”AVAPubli
cati
ons,p.
38
Crowt her
,D.&Lancast er
,G.(2008)“ Resear
chMet hods:A Conci
seInt
roduct
ionto
ResearchinManagementandBusinessConsultancy”But
ter
worth-
Hei
nemann
Wilson,J.(2010)“
Essenti
alsofBusinessResearch:AGuidetoDoingYourResearch
Project
”SAGEPublicat
ions

ht
tps:
//r
esear
ch-
met
hodol
ogy
.net
/resear
ch-
phi
l
osophy
/posi
ti
vi
sm/

ht
tps:
//r
evi
sesoci
ology
.com/
2015/
05/
18/
posi
ti
vi
sm-
int
erpr
eti
vi
sm-sociol
ogy/
ht
tps:
//r
evi
sesoci
ology
.com/
2015/
05/
19/
posi
ti
vi
sm-
sociol
ogy-
soci
al-
resear
ch/