The Association for Qualitative Research
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Positivism

Positivism is a research approach based on the philosophical notion that the only way to discover the truth is through application of the objective scientific method.

Positivism assumes the researcher to be objective with no personal impact on the collection or interpretation of data; in other words, entirely independent of his research. This contrasts to the Interpretivist approach, which assumes the researcher to play a subjective role in his research, with some personal involvement in the observation and drawing of conclusions, which may involve inductive reasoning and the consideration of social constructs.