What is post positivist theory

Postpositivist political theory is rather an umbrella description, which is loosely used to group together a variety of different theories and approaches that critically engage with different forms.Positivism is a philosophical position stating that knowledge of a social phenomenon is based upon what can be observed, measured, and recorded in the same way as in natural science.As a philosophical ideology and movement, positivism first assumed its distinctive features in the work of comte, who also named and.The only difference is that a scientist would use a procedure in order to arrive at conclusions, unlike a lay person.However, this article will restrict itself to examining the rival ontological and epistemological approaches to the theory and practice of social research that are both opposed to, and critical of positivism.

Researchers practising this approach believe that there are laws and theories that govern the world and they can be identified and tested using scientific methods.Positivism is an approach to sociology, as well as philosophy, that relies on empirical evidence, such as those found through experiments and statistics, to reveal information about how society functions.To my mind, it can be helpful to use an alternative approach.Sociology should approach research in the same way as the natural sciences.There is no difference in kind between the two, only a difference in degree.

This denotes that our individual understanding of day to day life is similar to the understanding of the scientist.