Positivism is a philosophy of social science that held facts could be rigidly separated from values, and that analysis could be value free. Logical positivism has played a major role in developing the concept of positivism at present time. Logical positivist, represented by Herbert Simon, holds to a narrower, natural science ideal for public administration. Positivist approach tries to justify the fact by definitions or verification with cases. However, post-positivist approach adopts a “possibility” perspective, justifying the fact by falsification (Crotty, 1998).
Positivist and post-positivist perspectives explore the causal effects of social activities, which could be called the explanatory inquiry based on …show more content…
They add to the understanding of public administration in various ways.
Symbolic interactionism and public administration
Symbolic interactionism stems from Mead’s pragmatist philosophy, in which, efficacy-the issue of “which works out most effectively” is the main characteristics. For some philosophers, especially James, pragmatism is only a new name for some old ways of thinking—usefulness and practically applicable to social life. In some time, pragmatism is the cherished philosophy of American public administration. It has significant influence on the understanding of public administration.
First, pragmatism is oriented by problem situation, which influencing public administration to deal with real social problems with scientific attitude. The scientific experimental attitude is a willingness to tackle the problem using working hypotheses that guide the collection and interpretation of data or facts. Both theory and methods are viewed as tools to address the problematic …show more content…
It attempts to account for the subjective qualities which logical positivists and empiricists assume to be unreal or are mistakenly treated as objective observable phenomena (Crotty, 1998; Burrell & Morgan, 2000). For phenomenology, things need to be seen from the other person’s perspective. It provides public administration researchers a new perspective to conduct research, especially with qualitative methods. Researchers are urged to engage in a single-minded effort to “bracket” their own presuppositions, prior knowledge and espoused viewpoints and allow the data to speak for themselves