Positivism Advantages

Positivism originated with August Comte. It was considered a philosophical approach that replaced speculation with science. Positivist theorists believe

The facility initiated a culture of positivism in their environment(s) by addressing various issues in certain areas of the facility which needed

Epistemologically, it adopts the scientific method and focuses on discovering observable and measurable facts and regularities, and only phenomenon that is observable and measureable would lead to the production of credible and meaningful data (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2016). Positivism is therefore an epistemological position that advocates the use of methods of natural science in the study of social reality and beyond (Bryman & Bell, 2011; Walliman, 2016). It looks for causal relationships in data to create law like generalisations like those produced by scientists (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2016). Positivism infers use of existing theory to develop hypotheses, which would be tested and confirmed, in whole or part, or refuted leading to further development of theory, which may then be tested by further research (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill,

Constructivism is the learning theory that focuses on observation by acquiring data and thereafter reexamining, altering, and updating information to be useful in the present time. Humans process experiences, knowledge, and conception of life based on their impressions of their past. As individuals experience an unfamiliar event, they will attempt to integrate it with their knowledge and past, therefore replacing old outdated or incorrect data with new more pertinent information (Kerka, 1997). This learning theory states that learning is an ongoing process and not about merely comprehending available data without questioning, processing, and updating previously learned information (Allen, 2005).

Science must be free to question and investigate any matter within the scope of its method and to hold and state whatever conclusions are reached on the basis of the evidence — or it will perish (Glass 1993, 50).

According to Rayner (2011, p. 258), epistemological structures reflects academic values, beliefs and idea of knowledge. They are used by researchers to interpret and re-interpret domain discipline. Knowledge acquisition can be sourced through perception, introspection, reason, testimony and memory (Steup, 2005). Old school researchers think of epistemology as the science of testing hypothesis. This traditional way proposes that researchers known as empiricist should first collect information then propose hypothesis, and then test the hypothesis objectively using statistical data. However, epistemology is about different ways of inquiring into the nature of the physical and the social worlds. And the result of the debates between the different led to the above mentioned views of social science research: positivism and social construction-ism (Easterby-Smith, 2012, p. 22).

The theory of positivism state that the knowledge that is valid about the world can be derived only from sense experience and from empirical associate, for instance the evidence of cause and affect must be observable by the senses (Ferrante, 2008:12). The theory propose that there are three intellectual stages through which the world has gone throughout its history, not only but also the groups, societies, sciences, individuals, and even minds go through the same three

The positivism perspective is an extension to the empiricism view on knowledge that states that knowledge comes from induction and observable experiences and that this knowledge is used to explain social phenomena (Benton & Craib, 2011). Nevertheless, the empiric view of knowledge on which positivism is based has long been subject to limitations. Immanuel Kant noted for instance that knowledge does not only come from the senses but also from a basic pallet of conceptual knowledge we all have. Furthermore, the interpretation of observations can differ due to the different way everyone acquires concepts. The claims done by Staman and Slob (2012) mentioned earlier are analyzed below for using this perspective on science.

Positivists utilize the tenets of scientific realism because they feel that the social and psychological world can be evaluated mathematically in the same way that quantitative research explains phenomena in the natural world (p.13).

Science implies the clarifications of the genuine wonder, which has clear contrasts from the pseudoscience. Nonetheless, it is advantageous to distinguish the science from the pseudoscience.

The universal principle that underlines all work conducted in the field of science is that the knowledge yielded from scientific discovery can never be considered to be indisputable truth as it is derived solely from the human perspective of the world and, to the greater extent, the tangible universe. As a result, theories brought forward that are considered to be factual one day can be justly discarded the next if enough evidence is produced to form a realised contradiction. It is due to this, therefore, that science holds great authority over how society is able to perceive its surroundings and consequently, how it allows human society to progress.

Epistemology suggests the speculation of data embedded in the theoretical perspective and along these lines in the procedure. There are three branches of epistemology, which are positivism, constructivism and Interpretivist. Positivism has been viewed as a utilization of science, in light of the way that it assumes learning has been existed in target conviction. Constructivism and Interpretivist are not exactly the same as positivism, constructivism considered the diverse people make this open space. Besides, follows that learning could illuminate any marvel. (Quinlan, 2011).

When studying the many aspects of philosophy, one must place value in what they consider to be true and false about the knowledge that has been, or will be acquired. Skepticism helps; it is the idea that some or all of human knowledge is not possible. In other words, one should preferably hold off on any beliefs they have, rather than accepting or relying on knowledge that was acquired by reason. Skeptics may either have a problem with accepting beliefs or opinions that are made out to be facts, or they may not trust or rely on their own senses, or both. At any rate, the subject in question with skepticism is truth, and how we arrive at what is considered to be true and why. There are more than few ways to go about this, which we will look at more in depth in this paper.

Strong critiques of value-neutral models have been developed exposing their contradictions, mythologies, and dead ends to show how the supposedly neutral conduct of science is rooted in history and entangled with cultural and political dimensions (e.g., Eisenhart and Howe, 1992). Historians have revealed the contextual and situated “connectivity of science” as a human endeavor of practical import (e.g., Danziger, 1990, 1997), including the reciprocal relationships, co-constitutions, and bindings among evidence, methodology, normative assumptions, political interests, instrumentalities, variables, and models of reality (cf. Burman, 1994, 1997; Rutherford, Vaughn-Blount, and Ball, 2010). These works illustrate how science is about descriptive

students in ‘discovery mode’. This is unlikely to be wholly satisfactory in Higher Education, either for teachers or learners, and an element of instructivism is to be expected. Nevertheless, Fox acknowledges that “the greatest insight of constructivism is perhaps the realisation of the difference made by a learner’s existing knowledge and values to what is learned next, both in facilitating and inhibiting it (ibid. 33).