Decoding Research Concepts of Positivism and Post-Positivism that describe the nature of all research.

Most of the research students almost dread this concept because it sounds very complex or the terms don't immediately correlate to any meaning as other terms in research do.

And we agree that what is positivism and how to post-positivism are different and do not strike an answer immediately or do not build a clear image of the concept in our minds. But it truly is the most philosophical scientific concept to exist.

If you understand the basic definition of what it stands for you may not dig deeper and decode each layer of the concept. So what exactly are positivism and post-positivism? Let's find out!

Positivism in Research: 

Let's start with the most relatable terminology “Philosophy of Science”. If positivism and post-positivism mean something they mean the philosophy of science.

But what does this term mean? As per the definition of Oxford languages, philosophy means “the study of ideas and beliefs about the meaning of life” in its most generic meaning. So the philosophy of science means the ideas and beliefs about science. 

As per another definition by Oxford Languages, philosophy is “a set of beliefs that tries to explain the meaning of life or give rules about how to behave” and philosophy of science would mean a set of beliefs that give rules about how to do certain things in the field of science.

Positivism is the philosophy of science I.e a set of ideas or belief systems that believes that “ information derived from logical and mathematical treatments and reports of sensory evidence, is the exclusive source of all authoritative knowledge”. (as per the definition of positivism). 

Let us try to simplify what we read so far- positivism is a train of thought which believes that only information that is derived from logical and mathematical treatments (I.e experimentation in laboratories or field experiments, etc) and reports of sensory evidence ( I.e such data which can be verified when tested through observation) is the only exclusive source of all authoritative knowledge (only true source of scientifically tested and proven knowledge which is the only true information existing in the world). 

Positivism was developed by Philosopher and founding sociologist Auguste Comte in the Early 19th Century.

This whole train of thought believes that only information or data which is verified by scientific measurements, experiments, and treatments are true to nature and no other information is correct.

Introspective and intuitive knowledge such as assumptions and alleged information is rejected. 

As per positivists (people who believe in positivism) the only purpose of science is to only believe and stick to what can be measured or observed and knowledge of anything beyond what can be measured or observed is impossible. 

Positivists always believed in Empiricism which is a research field that focuses on how conducting the same research under the same circumstances using the same method will lead you to the same result each time and this is verifiable as many times as you conduct the research the thought which follows from observation and measurement is the core of scientific endeavors.

Positivists also believed in direct manipulation and observation of natural laws for experimentation to prove the information to be scientific.

Positivists also believe that experimental investigation and observation are the only sources of knowledge.

Let us understand this by the following example. There's a phrase in English that says your thought process decides whether the glass is half-empty or half-full.

Now imagine there is a literal glass with just half filled with water. A positivist will not believe in the glass being half-empty or half-full blindly.

The positivist will conduct a complete experiment and will measure the quantity of water in the glass and how much can the glass hold in its total capacity based on this observable, verifiable, measurable, and derived from scientific experimentation information or knowledge, the positivist will say the glass is half empty because it can hold more water in its total capacity.

This is a prime example of positivism as a philosophy of science. You can say that positivists are huge fans of science and will not believe in any bit that is just an assumption or a rumor or just alleged information.

Once concluding you cannot convince a positivist otherwise until you can prove the opposite scientific using the methods of experimentation or observation, etc. A positivist won't even budge.

Post-Positivism in Research:

Don't you think life would get too difficult if everyone followed the positivist approach? Fields like Arts, Humanitarian Studies, etc would never even be discovered if the world followed a positivist approach.

This is where post-positivism steps in. Post-positivism is also a train of thought but the only difference is it completely disowns the ideas and beliefs of positivism.

Post-Positivists completely disagreed with the positivist approach and said even science is not perfect and can have errors.

Post-positivists believe that no matter how scientific your approach is, the experiments and observations are conducted by humans who tend to be biased.

Humans on purpose narrow down their scope to a more objective study to avoid any elements affecting their research results and this manipulation is not real and natural.

So post-positivism is also known as critical realism which believes that there is a reality independent of what we can observe and study via science. Something beyond our verifiable knowledge.

Positivists were also said to be realists but post-positivists are called critical realists.

Post-positivists were the ones to state that all observations cannot be perfectly true and that all observations are fallible and can have errors while all theories are revisable.

The post-positivist train of thought believes in the basic idea of how we construct our views, ideas, and beliefs about the world based on our perspective, perception, and observation of it and our observations can always be fallible or wrong and so our construction about the world must also be imperfect.

Post-positivists said that the objective thinking of scientists and the way they narrowed down the whole research to just one objective goal was the main reason why they ignored all the other factors and put away any biases that could show them things as they are in the real world.

Manipulating elements being studied and observing them in a controlled environment is as unreal as it gets and that is the reason why in a real natural environment things could be completely different. 

Post Positivists believed that no individual can see the world for what it truly is and that we can never achieve objectivity but can try to approach it.

For example, post-positivists believe that the glass could also be half full if the positivist researchers set aside their objective bias of the capacity of water the glass can hold.

From another more subjective perspective, the glass could be half full because the glass might as well not hold any water if not needed.

There could be endless possibilities and a researcher cannot just assume one particular outcome based on a biased objective. 

Now that we understand that Positivism supports Objectivity and Post-positivism supports Subjectivity, let us have a look at what these two concepts stand for in research. 

Objectivity and Subjectivity in Research:

According to science Objectivity is important to avoid any kind of bias and to arrive at the truth. However, as humans are inherently subjective creatures we cannot study them as sciences are studied.

Objectivity in Research:

Objectivity is about sticking to one particular aspect and ignoring every other possibility to stay focused and come to the truth of one objective factor or element.

If you have too many directions in science it will only end up making your study or subject vague and science is about precision and correctness. 

Sociological elements that are objective adopt a viewpoint that is external or transcendent to individual experience.

It assumes social reality does not stem from subjective experiences, but rather the macro structures that bind society and construct reality. 

For example, every person living in the world could have a different experience that could shape their perspective on the world.

Like a rich person could believe that the world is materialistic while a poor person could believe that even necessities are a luxury. every social class, caste, creed, community, etc can have a different opinion or perspective about the world.

But these micro perspectives cannot be considered when it comes to defining the world on a macro level. at a macro level and an objective level, the world will have just one single definition as per sociology. 

Objectivity is personal neutrality. It allows facts to speak for themselves and not be influenced by the personal values and biases of the researcher.

What it simply means is that since one single element is being crucially analyzed, observed, and experimented on it leaves no room for the researcher's biases and makes the research more scientific.

Since the whole process deals with fact-checking, analyzing data, and looking for a piece of statistical evidence or any logical scientific backing there is no room for the researcher's bias to destroy the research.

There are two types of objectivity, they are:

1. ontologically objective: objectivity is independent of the mind. What this means is that certain facts and certain information will always be the way it is irrespective of how the person learning about them perceives or understands them. It has very little to do with how the person thinks about it or how the person's mind understands and adds meaning to it. These facts remain the same for every person who has access to them. These objectives have nothing to do with how a person perceives and understands them.

2. Epistemology in objective: objectivity depends on the view of rational thinkers. What this simply means is that a person who can think scientifically without adding any assumptions or alleged facts to his or her thinking and can think rationally without being biased can do justice to the objective element being studied. 

Subjectivity in Research:

The post-positivist train of thought supports subjectivity in research because it believes that humans are subjective creatures and will always perceive the world and all the elements in it as per their perception and perspective.

Their personal biases and understanding of the elements being studied will always clash with objectivity and they will not be able to see things as they are.

Subjective-based approaches on the other hand place emphasis on personal experiences. They value individual experiences and aim to uncover the meaning behind these actions.

The micro experiences that were ignored in the objective example are here given importance and are treated as elements of great significance. 

subjectivity is a judgment based on individual personal feelings and opinions rather than external factors.

In the concept of subjectivity, there is room for assumptions, and creative thinking even when critical, and it allows every individual to see things and experience things as per their understanding and their perception of things.

For example, when we visit an art gallery, the art being displayed is subject to our interpretation and what we can understand and make out of it.

Every individual at the art gallery may notice a different emotion, a completely different mood, or a completely different hidden message behind the artist's work.

It does not mean that there is a single winner amongst all of these perceptions and perspectives of the art pieces at the art gallery. This is because art is open to interpretation and is subjective.

subjectivity is considered mind-dependent because one is using their personal opinion and not facts. For example, if your favorite color is blue you are more likely to buy a blue sweater instead of a purple one.

Or for example, you are more likely to spend your money on things that interest you and bring you a sense of achievement or comfort, because your perception of those things makes you buy those. You will not invest in a home theatre if you are not fond of watching movies.

Thus to conclude, we hope this article was able to help you discover and decode the concept of positivism and post-positivism and how they are related to objectivity and subjectivity in research.