Ordenando el caos: cuatro enfoques metodológicos para investigar en políticas públicas

Abstract

Public policy analysis (PPA) is a disciplinary field where multiple theories and methodological procedures converge. This research note addresses whether it is possible to organize knowledge in a way that philosophical assumptions, analytical frameworks and methods could be aligned. To this aim, Patrick Jackson’s typology is used as an organizational scheme of the debates in philosophy of science. Based on this, we propose a distribution of PPA macro theories in corre-spondence with the four methodologies defined in Jackson’s scheme: neopositivism, realism, analyticism and reflexivity. The purpose of this exercise is to make PPA theoretical proposals more accessible for researchers and, this way, to highlight their distinctive elements and prac-tical implications for research methodologies. This will allow to visualize the potential paths that could lead towards more consistent, coherent and congruent research designs.