Post-Positivist Realism

Towards a Post-positivist Typology of Planning Theory

The post-positivist domination of planning theory in recent years has rightly highlighted the social and political context of theories. Its impact through various guises including collaborative, postmodern and neo-pragmatic approaches has been significant. However, one area that has been immune to these broad changes and interpretations is typologies of planning. Typologies provide heuristics f...

Constructivist Realism: An Ontology That Encompasses Positivist and Constructivist Approaches to the Social Sciences

It has been argued that positivist and constructivist ontologies are irreconcilable. According to LINCOLN and GUBA (2000), positivism’s "naive realism" holds that reality is both "real" and "apprehendable," whereas constructivism maintains that meaning is generated by individuals and groups. This analysis implies that the quantitative and qualitative methodologies associated with positivism and...

Concerns and Challenges of Data Integration from Objective Post- Positivist Approach and a Subjective Non-Positivist Interpretive Approach and Their Validity/Credibility Issues

Integration of data derived from objective post positivist approach and interpretive non-positivist approach through mixed methods research has gained increasing attention in the recent past. But, at the same, concerns have been raised in the process of integrating data and, hence, enhancing validity/credibility of a research. This article seeks to analyze some concerns and challenges related t...

Econometrics, Realism and Policy in Post Keynesian Economics

21 Realism / Anti - Realism

The main realism/anti-realism issue in the philosophy of science is the issue of scientific realism, concerned with the unobservable entities of science. However, there is also a more general issue, often known as “realism about the external world,” concerned primarily with the observable entities of common sense, but which spreads to scientific entities, both observable and unobservable. The i...