THE SEARCH FOR SPATIAL THEORIES: ON THE ROLE OF CONCEPTUAL AND COMPUTATIONAL MODELS IN GEOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

At present academic inquiry is guided by various research paradigms, the most popular ones being those affiliated with metaphysics, phenomenology and positivism, while the literature to date lacks an explicit structural typology identifying and interrelating these formats. As a result, numerous peculiar classification schemes have been created. For example, Kerlinger indicates that reesearch in general is comprised of three different modes, namely behavioral, historical and methodological~ Harvey, following ' Hempel, distinguishes between deductive-nomological and inductive-systematization, viewing the hypothetico-deductive system as a special case of this former type2 Olsson talks about formal as opposed to substantive research~ And Relph, exemplifying a fourth possible outlook, posits the dichotomy of phenomenology versus positivism4 Obviously these authors' views do render distinct, mutually exclusive groupings. The ensuing discussion pertains to that body of literature associated with what Relph calls the positivistic approach to research.