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The "Objectivity" of Knowledge in Social Science and Social Policy (German: Die 'Objektivität' sozialwissenschaftlicher und sozialpolitischer Erkenntnis) is a 1904 essay written by Max Weber, a German economist and sociologist, originally published in German in the 1904 issues of the Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialforschung. [1]
In science, objectivity refers to attempts to do higher quality research by eliminating personal biases (or prejudices), irrational emotions and false beliefs, while focusing mainly on proven facts and evidence. [1] It is often linked to observation as part of the scientific method. It is thus related to the aim of testability and reproducibility.
Social research is based on logic and empirical observations. Charles C. Ragin writes in his Constructing Social Research book that "Social research involved the interaction between ideas and evidence. Ideas help social researchers make sense of evidence, and researchers use evidence to extend, revise and test ideas."
It reintroduces the basic assumptions of positivism: the possibility and desirability of objective truth, and the use of experimental methodology. The work of philosophers Nancy Cartwright and Ian Hacking are representative of these ideas. [citation needed] Postpositivism of this type is described in social science guides to research methods. [7]
Postpositivism of this type is described in social science guides to research methods. [59] Postpositivists argue that theories, hypotheses, background knowledge and values of the researcher can influence what is observed. [60] Postpositivists pursue objectivity by recognizing the possible effects of biases.
In social science, antipositivism (also interpretivism, negativism [citation needed] or antinaturalism) is a theoretical stance which proposes that the social realm cannot be studied with the methods of investigation utilized within the natural sciences, and that investigation of the social realm requires a different epistemology. Fundamental ...
The root of the words subjectivity and objectivity are subject and object, philosophical terms that mean, respectively, an observer and a thing being observed.The word subjectivity comes from subject in a philosophical sense, meaning an individual who possesses unique conscious experiences, such as perspectives, feelings, beliefs, and desires, [1] [3] or who (consciously) acts upon or wields ...
In his essay Science as a Vocation (1917) Max Weber draws a distinction between facts and values. He argues that facts can be determined through the methods of a value-free, objective social science, while values are derived through culture and religion, the truth of which cannot be known through science.