Positivism Essay

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Positivism is a research method that developed from the behavioral revolution, which sought to combine positivism and empiricism to politics (Halperin and Heath, 2012: 27). That is to say, this research approach is governed by natural law to observe, understand and to find meaning in the empirical world. This type of research seeks to answer two empirical questions, such as ‘what is out there’ and ‘what do we call it’ (Gerring, 2001: 156). Positivism is only interested in phenomenons that can be observed through our senses. Thus, positivism is interested in social realities that can be observed and measured by the scientific method (Halperin and Heath, 2012: 29). Furthermore, positivism believes that the gathering of evidence through scientific method can create knowledge and laws, known as induction (Halperin and Heath, 2012: 27). That is to say, evidence can be verified and later generalized then applied to multiple contexts. A positivist would investigate empirical questions that assume how the world works through the accuracy of a probable truth (Gerring, 2001: 155). …show more content…

Positivism is a descriptive form of research that lacks reason and meaning, basically only offers ‘brute data’ (Taylor, 1985: 19). A strength of positivism is its collection of quantifiable data, along with the well-structured design that significantly supports evidence. However, positivism is more concerned with the technique of research than the substance of their findings (Halperin and Heath, 2012: 27). And scientific equations can not account for the complexity of human behavior and culture. A positivist also doesn’t differentiate between the natural world and social world. Therefore, their research lacks a fundamental understanding of the complexity of social behavior, and how social behaviors construct social

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