Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Implications for Family Therapy Research

Among recent philosophers of science, a trend has emerged that has been described elsewhere as a movement beyond objectivism and relativism, Within the field of family therapy, a parallel movement can be observed that has been promoted by the constructivist implications of contemporary cybernetics. Together, these trends have called into question traditional notions of objectivity. In this paper, research implications of the emerging alternative epistemology are propose& JrilrOdUCtiOn At the 1982 annual meeting of the American Family Therapy Association, Alan Gurman organized a panel of researchers that offered two different views of how to study family therapy. More recently, Gutman has characterized these contrasting approaches as "old hat" and "new wave" research (Gutman, 1983). Proponents of these respective views (Kniskern, 1983; Tomm, 1983) have asserted that their differences are not simply a matter of emphasis regarding specific research methods used but rather arise from fundamental Brent J. Atkinson, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Family Center, Family Therapy Program, Department of Human and Family Resources, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, 60115-2854. Anthony W. Heath, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Family Therapy Program, Department of Human and Family Resources, Northern Illinois University, DcKalb, Illinois, 60115-2854, differences in assumptions made about the nature of reality and how we come to know phenomena. "Old hat" methods are more wedded to the assumption that there is a real world which exists "out there," and that if we are rigorous enough in our observations, we will be able to obtain an increasingly accurate and objective view of that world. "New wave" theorists, on the other hand, insist that, even if there is an ontologically real world, we can never have objective access to that world. Rather, all descriptions will be shaped by the perspective of the observer. While proponents of the later perspective have become increasingly active in critiquing the traditional family therapy research paradigm, little discussion has taken place regarding alternative directions for family therapy research. It is the purpose of this paper to promote such discussion, The Construed vist View To date, most family therapy research has been rooted to the traditional scientific notion that "objectivity" is possible (Torrun, 1983). In this view of science, a researcher's primary task is to attempt to keep his or her own biases or opinions from entering into observations of the world. Kerlinger (1973)