CRITICAL METHODOLOGY IN POLICY ANALYSIS CRITICAL REALIST APPROACH

Abstract

Most mainstream research in social science is dominated by positivist methodologies such as regression analysis and pays little attention to the larger philosophical considerations of knowledge, thus denying any space to critical analysis. This paper is a critique of the current positivist research methodology that dominates mainstream social research today. This paper is an attempt to develop a critical research methodology that researchers can use as an alternative to the positivist methodology that dominates mainstream social science research. In doing so, I follow a dialectical approach: I develop a critique of the inherent flaws of positivist social science methodology by exposing the reductionist scientism on which it stands, and its consequent inability to generate reliable social knowledge, while at the same time, I undertake the task of constructing a critical methodology framework by synthesizing the contributions of various critical theorists. This process leads to the development of a schema which systematically identifies and links the various ontological levels with their respective logically necessary epistemological practices. In this way, I hope to make explicit the connections between philosophy of science, critical social theory, research methodology1, and substantive models that a researcher may employ to investigate social phenomena from a critical perspective.