Ideology as science: some methodological considerations concerning positivism and policy options in South Africa

Abstract

The central argument of this discussion is that if coherent alternative social, political and economic policy options are to be researched and formulated for a post‐apartheid South Africa, it is necessary for these processes to be informed by appropriate research methodologies and methods. Such appropriateness can be determined by the subject and intentions of the research. Furthermore, complementarity must obtain between: (i) the assumptions which guide the researchers’ choice of methodology and method; (ii) those which inhere in the methodology and methods themselves; and (iii) the intended objectives of the resultant policy. The implicitly and inherently political and ideological implications of particular methodologies must be acknowledged and critically assessed, in terms of the potential for policies resulting from research processes informed by them to present coherent policy options and foster viable change in South Africa. The methodology and its attendant political and ideological implications forming the core of this discussion is positivism.

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