ABSTRACT
Naive realism is underpinned by a social theory known as positivism and a philosophical theory known as empiricism. Kolakowski (1972) suggests that a positivistic model should include four separate elements: phenomenalism, nominalism, a distinction between facts and values, and the unity of the scientific method. The first of these, phenomenalism, refers to the idea that social scientists should only be concerned with surface phenomena and not with underlying essences. Both natural and social scientists should therefore concentrate on how these surface and observable phenomena manifest themselves in regular patterns. The second element is nominalism. This refers to the belief that the world consists of social and physical facts which cannot be further reduced in any way. The researcher’s task is to identify those facts which exist by virtue of what the world is and they exist prior to their perception or conceptualisation by social actors. Researchers therefore bracket out their value systems and discover what is, and their accounts as a result correspond with that reality in a straightforward way.
