Beyond positivism: humanistic perspectives on theory and research in health education

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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to expand the set of ideas about what constitutes ‘theory’ in public health education. The paper presents a review of seven functions of theory: prediction, explanation, making assumptions explicit, understanding, sense-making, sensitization and critique. The first two uses fall under the domain of positivist research; the latter five are drawn from theorizing conducted in the humanities, as in historical, legal, literary and philosophical research. The paper argues that a broader conception of theory and research, one that moves beyond the parameters of the positivist paradigm, may help to bridge the gap between theory and practice in health education.

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