A New Wave of Positivism in the Social Sciences: Regulatory Capture and Conceptual Constraints in the Governance of Research Involving Humans

Abstract

The task of this paper is to identify key conceptual limitations of prospective ethics review in the social sciences and humanities and discuss the implications of employing a positivist methodological toolkit in designing a governance framework for all research involving humans. This is necessary to facilitate a revision of the Tri-Council Policy Statement in a way that would built upon and enhance the pluralistic ethico-methodological nature of the social sciences and humanities.The paper consists of two parts, examining procedural and conceptual aspects in the governance of research involving humans, respectively. First, it focuses on the procedural reasons that contributed to the adoption of a one-size-fits-all regulatory model in 1998 and the limited ability of the regulators to respond to the criticisms of social researchers in the subsequent iterations of the Tri-Council Policy Statement in 2010 and 2014. Second, it offers an analysis of the positivist conceptual framework, including methodological reductionism, objectivism, and universalism, and its impact on policy making in research involving humans.