How would you describe the epistemological position of positivism

Positivism
•EMPIRICAL-ANALYTICAL POSITIVISM
•Basic Tenet:
•Basic laws govern all phenomena
•Factors within this phenomenal can be separated or quantified
•Value-free researcher
“Realists”
-Aristotle
-Descartes
•POSITIVISM
Sources of Theories
•Draws theories from hard sciences
•Searchers for ultimate truths of these laws by building theory into generalizations
Areas of Human Life
•Concerned with work and or labor
Cognitive Interest
•Technical: Practice is impacted through newly developed means to achieve established ends

•ASSUMPTIONS OF A PARADIGM
Popkewitz (1980)
1.Theory is universal and sets of principles and rules. Can be arrived at to describe social and behavioural interaction.
2.The researcher is objective and value-free.
3.Social/behavioral science exists as a system of variables and factors which are distinct and separable for study.
4.Knowledge should be formalized, variables ought to be distinct from each other and defined accordingly.
5.Hypotheses about theories are tested by quantification of observations analyzed with statistics.
•ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE
VALUES KNOWLEDGE
Values are emotive and therefore outside scientific inquiry Generalization marked by certainty
There is one Truth Observational data is foundation of knowledge
Values and facts are separate
Concerned with what is true

•Design statistics
•A continuum from subjective to objective
•Historical
•Descriptive
•Case Study
•Relational
•Quasi-experimental
•Experimental
•GOALS or purposes
•Explain
•Predict
•Control (Social Settings)
•Questions addressed
•Technical
•Means-Ends
•Cause and Effect
•Descriptive
“Behaviors”
•CRITERIA FOR VALIDITY
•Meeting Scientific Study Criteria
* Validity
* Reliability
•OUTCOMES
•Laws
•Principles
•Generalizations

•EPISTEMOLOGICAL POSITION
•Espouses a correspondence theory of truth:
•Statement is true if it corresponds to an existing reality?

•Empirically verified

-Bacon
-Locke
-Comte
-Mill

Description

1. How would you describe the epistemological position of positivism? a. Given this epistemological stance, what are the primary ways in which you think a logical positivist would approach a research study?

2. What is discourse and its relationship to “truth” and discussed by Petrovic (2013)- see chapter 35 in text.

You MUST cite academic literature in your responses. As a general guide, each discussion forum should have at least three citations and must include citations from outside sources. Irby, B.J., Brown, G., Lara-Alecio, R., & Jackson, S. (2013). The handbook of educational theories. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Link to textbook: https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/awIoDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP1