THE MEANINGS OF METHODOLOGYshared with others. Rational people who indepen-
dently observe facts will agree on them subjectively.
This is called intersubjectivity, or the shared sub-
jective acknowledgment of the observable facts.
Many positivists also endorse the falsification
doctrine outlined by the Anglo-Austrian philosopher
Sir Karl Popper (1902–1991) in The Logic of Sci-
entific Discovery(1934). Popper argued that claims
to knowledge “can never be proven or fully justi-
fied, they can only be refuted” (Phillips, 1987:3).
Evidence for a causal law requires more than piling
up supporting facts; it involves looking for evidence
that contradicts the causal law. In a classic example,
if I want to test the claim that all swans are white, and
I find 1,000 white swans, I have not totally con-
firmed a causal law or pattern. Locating one black
swan is all it takes to refute my claim—one piece of
negative evidence. This means that researchers
search for disconfirming evidence, and even then,
the best they can say is, “Thus far, I have not been
able to locate any, so the claim is probably right.”
9.What is the relevance or use of social sci-
entific knowledge?
Positivists try to learn about how the social
world works to enable people to exercise control
over it and make accurate predictions about it. In
short, as we discover the laws of human behavior,
we can use that knowledge to alter and improve so-
cial conditions. This instrumental form of knowl-
edge sees research results as tools or instruments
that people use to satisfy their desires and control
the social environment. Thus, PSS uses an
instrumental orientationin which the relevance
of knowledge is its ability to enable people to mas-
ter or control events in the world around them.
PSS has a technocratic perspectiveto the ap-
plication of knowledge. The word technocratic
combines technologyand bureaucracy.PSS says
that after many years of professional training,
researchers develop in-depth technical expertise.
As an expert, the researcher tries to satisfy the
information needs of large-scale bureaucratic
organizations (e.g., hospitals, business corpora-
tions, government agencies). The questions such
organizations ask tend to be oriented to improving
the efficiency of operations and effectiveness of
reaching organizational goals or objectives. In
a technical expert role the researcher provides
answers to questions asked by others but notto ask
different questions, redirect an inquiry into new
areas, challenge the basic premises of questions, or
defy the objectives set by leaders in control of the
bureaucratic organizations.
10.Where do sociopolitical values enter into
science?
PSS argues for objectives of value-free sci-
ence. The term objectivehas two meanings: (1) that
observers agree on what they see and (2) that sci-
entific knowledge is not based on values, opinions,
attitudes, or beliefs.^9 Positivists see science as a
special, distinctive part of society that is free of per-
sonal, political, or religious values. Science is able
to operate independently of the social and cultural
forces affecting other human activity because sci-
ence involves applying strict rational thinking and
systematic observation in a manner that transcends
personal prejudices, biases, and values. Thus, the
norms and operation of the scientific community
keep science objective. Researchers accept and
internalize the norms as part of their membership
in the scientific community. The scientific com-
munity has an elaborate system of checks and bal-
ances to guard against value bias. A researcher’sIntersubjectivity A principle for evaluating empiri-
cal evidence in positivist social science stating that dif-
ferent people can agree on what is in the empirical
world by using the senses.
Instrumental orientation A means–end orienta-
tion toward social knowledge in which knowledge is
like an instrument or tool that people can use to con-
trol their environment or achieve some goal. The value
of knowledge is in its use to achieve goals.
Technocratic perspective An applied orientation
in which the researcher unquestioningly accepts any
research problem and limits on the scope of study re-
quested by government, corporate, or bureaucratic of-
ficials, uncritically conducts applied research for them,
and obediently supplies the officials with information
needed for their decision making.
Value-free science A positivist social science prin-
ciple that social research should be conducted in an
objective manner based on empirical evidence alone
and without inference from moral-political values.