Beyond empiricism: Policy inquiry in postpositivist perspective

This essay contributes to the growing critique of policy science's dominant neopositivist methodologies. Not only is neopositivist policy science seen to have failed in its effort to develop a usable body of predictive generalizations, it has been unable to supply effective solutions to social problems. An important part of this failure is traced to outmoded epistemological assumptions. Drawing on developments in both science and the sociology of science, in particular the recognition that the "hard" sciences themselves no longer rest on traditional concepts of objectivity and proof, the discussion outlines a postpositivist conception of policy science designed to address the multidimensional complexity of social reality. As a discursive orientation grounded in practical reason, the postpositivist approach situates empirical inquiry in a broader interpretive framework. More than just an epistemological alternative, the approach is offered as a better description of what social scientists actually do in practice. The essay closes with a brief discussion of the implications of a postpositivist approach for both a socially relevant policy curriculum and a democratic practice of policy inquiry.