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Saturday 5 May 2012

Paper Alert! Breen & Darlaston-Jones (2008) Moving Beyond the Enduring Dominance of Positivism in Psychological Research: An Australian Perspective






I highly reccommend this, from 4 years ago but very pertinent .....

Breen, L., and Darlaston-Jones, D. (2008). Moving Beyond the Enduring Dominance of Positivism in Psychological Research: An
Australian Perspective. Paper presented at the 43rd Australian Psychological Society Annual Conference.

Abstract
Almost since its inception, the dominant narrative of modern psychology has embraced
positivism through its insistence that psychological science is objective, generalisable,
and value free (or neutral). Consequently, quantitative research and in particular,
experimental designs, are privileged over other forms of enquiry and other
epistemologies, methodologies, and methods remain marginalised within the discipline.
Alternative epistemologies and methodologies remain predominantly at the margins
within psychological research yet have resulted from the growing dissatisfaction with
the dominance of positivism. We argue that the enduring hegemony of positivism needs
to be opposed to enable psychology to genuinely understand the antecedents of, and
provides meaningful sustainable solutions for, complex human issues without being
constrained by a narrow focus on method. We discuss how psychology in Australia can
move towards embracing methodological and epistemological pluralism and provide a
number of suggestions for change across the interrelated areas of accreditation,
curriculum, the Australian Psychological Society, and research.

Full version here

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