Postpositivism or postempiricism is a metatheoretical stance that critiques and amends positivism[1] and has impacted theories and practices across philosophy, social sciences, and various models of scientific inquiry. While positivists emphasize independence between the researcher and the researched person (or object), postpositivists argue that theories, hypotheses, background knowledge and values of the researcher can influence what is observed.[2] Postpositivists pursue objectivity by recognizing the possible effects of biases.[2][3][4] While positivists emphasize quantitative methods, postpositivists consider both quantitative and qualitative methods to be valid approaches.[4]
^ abRobson, Colin (2002). Real World Research. A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner-Researchers (Second ed.). Malden: Blackwell. p. 624. ISBN978-0-631-21305-5.
^Miller, Katherine (2007). Communication theories : perspectives, processes, and contexts (2nd ed.). Beijing: Peking University Press. pp. 35–45. ISBN9787301124314.
^ abTaylor, Thomas R.; Lindlof, Bryan C. (2011). Qualitative communication research methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE. pp. 5–13. ISBN978-1412974738.
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