The philosophy of science foundations of marketing research: For scientific realism and the inductive realist models of theory status and generation

Abstract

All marketing research requires philosophy of science foundations. That is, every marketing research project presumes an ontology (what entities – the referents of the constructs – does the research assume to have real existence?), a methodology (what procedures are to be followed for good research?), and an epistemology (how are the knowledge claims of the research to be properly evaluated?). This article argues for scientific realism and the inductive realist models of theory status and generation as providing an appropriate philosophy of science foundation for marketing research. The article (1) explicates the nature of scientific realism, (2) discusses the advantages for marketing researchers of using it as a philosophical foundation, (3) points out three major problems associated with scientific realism, which are labeled the problems of “approximate truth,” “sociological/political factors,” and “theory development,” (4) reviews the inductive realist model of theory status and shows how it can address the first two problems, (5) reviews the inductive realist model of theory generation and shows how it can address the third problem, and (6) concludes with an invitation for readers to propose viable alternatives to scientific realism so that productive discussion on the philosophical foundations issue can take place.

市场营销研究科学基础的哲学依据 科学现实主义和理 论地位及生成的归纳现实主义模型

所有的市场营销研究都需要其科学基础的哲学依据。也就是说，每一个市场营销研究项目都有假设的本体（研究假定什么实体——构建的指示对象——是真实存在的？），方法论（好的调查研究要遵循哪些步骤？），及认识论（如何合理评估研究的知识主张？）。本文论证了科学现实主义和理论地位及生成的归纳现实主义模型，认为其为市场营销研究的科学基础提供了恰当的哲学依据。本文（1）阐释了科学现实主义的本质，（2）探讨了市场营销研究者将其作为哲学基础的优势，（3）指出与科学现实主义相关的三个主要问题，即“近似真理”、“社会学/政治学因素”和“理论发展”，（4）回顾了理论地位的归纳现实主义模型，并阐释了该模型如何应对前两个问题，（5）回顾了理论生成的归纳现实主义模型，阐释了该模型如何应对第三个问题，（6）并 邀请读者对科学现实主义提出可行的替代方案，以便对哲学依据问题的讨论富有成效。

Keywords:

• Marketing theory
• philosophy of science
• scientific realism
• inductive realism
• approximate truth
• theory generation

关键词:

• 营销理论
• 科学哲学
• 科学现实主义
• 归纳现实主义
• 近似真理
• 理论生成