Truth , Knowledge and the

Knowledge Creating Process

Prof Dave Root & Dr Ria Vosloo

BUQS4031A/4041A
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 Truth , Knowledge and creating
knowledge
• Truth – Ontology
• Truth – whose truth?
• How do I know?
• Why do I want to know?
• Should I know?
• How will I know if I know?
• For a honours degree – What must I know?

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 PLEASE NOTE THAT TERMINOLOGY
USED HERE BY VARIOUS AUTHORS CAN
BE VASTLY DIFFERENT AND CONFUSING
This is often referred to as the “Philosophical
Level” of research
 ONTOLOGY
Truth

What is a bird?
Truth - What is a bird?
How do you represent the earth in two dimensions?

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Mercator’s Projection (1569)
Cylindrical equal-area projection with
oblique orientation

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Some more perspectives

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 Some thoughts on Truth ?

• Logical empiricism (Truth as reason en sense experience): The truth

can be found by looking at hard facts
• Hermeneutics (Truth as understanding): Life and truth is a process
of interpretation and dialogue
• Systems theory (Truth as a whole): Life is a system of which we are a
part and we need to see things as a whole
• Feminism (Truth as being a woman): Truth wears a woman’s face
and woman can help re-think and re-create the world

Higgs, P. & Smith, J. (2006). Rethinking truth

(2nd ed). Cape Town: Juta.
 Some thoughts on Truth ?
• Logical empiricism (Phenomenology (Truth as authenticity): The
truth as an experience of feelings, awareness, and
consciousness – We are in the world and the world is in us
• Critical theory (Truth as unmasking): The truth is created and
uncreated by human beings, mostly by people in positions of
authority
• African philosophy (Truth as African): Truth is grounded in
African cultural experience and this could be contrasted with
other cultures

Higgs, P. & Smith, J. (2006). Rethinking truth (2nd

ed). Cape Town: Juta.
 Some thoughts on Truth ?

• Critical rationalism (Truth as exploration): The truth eludes

us but we try to avoid falsity – they reject the nil-
hypothesis, rather than accepting facts
• Postmodernism (Truth as an illusion): The truth is not out
there and science are ill equipped to solve problems
• Nihilism (Truth as meaninglessness): Life and truth is
meaningless and human existence is chaotic and erratic

Higgs, P. & Smith, J. (2006). Rethinking truth (2nd

ed). Cape Town: Juta.
 Epistemology (How do we know)
e.g. Logical empiricism

OBJECTIVISM TRUTH IS? SUBJECTIVISM

 Epistemology (How do we know)
e.g. Logical empiricism

OBJECTIVISM TRUTH IS? SUBJECTIVISM

How do we know?

Positivism Critical Interpretivism/

Realism/ Constructivism/
Relativism Phenemological
 Epistemology (How do we know)
e.g. Logical empiricism

OBJECTIVISM TRUTH IS? SUBJECTIVISM

How do we know?

Positivism Critical Interpretivism/

Realism Constructivism

Value free Cannot be

What can be understood as Can only be
observed independent perceived
of social within specific
context context by
Actors
 POSITIVIST
• There is a real world out there which is
independent from the observer.
• If you deny it, you’ll know it exists because you
will suffer the consequences.
• Facts are supposed to be value-free.
• Emperical operationalising – typically quantitative
• Principles of probability
• Reductionism – break problem into smallest
elements
• Generalisation – want to generalise to a
population based on sampling and response
 Positivist Epistemology and Methodology
• EPISTEMOLOGY • METHODOLOGY
– The scientific method – Large surveys
– Quantitative – Census data
– Deductive (theory- – Standardized questionnaires
hypothesis-test-theory) – Experiments with control
– Correlations group
– Random sample – Games (eg “money game”)
– Statistical generalization – 100% desk research is
– Validity and reliability as possible
part of the protocol
– Develop universal causal
laws through establishing
empirical regularities
 DEDUCTION

Theory

Hypothesis

Observation

Confirmation
 Interprativism/ Constructivism or
Phenemological

• Facts are mental constructions. They are not ‘out there’ for
everyone to see.
• People construct meaning in social interactions.
• The task of the researcher is to understand these meaning
making and knowledge processes.
• Research is not value-free.
• The researcher is part of ‘reality’.
• Double hermeneutics: the respondents interpret
reality, the researcher interprets how the
respondents interpret reality.
 Constructivist Epistemology and
Methodology
• EPISTEMOLOGY • METHODOLOGY
– Enter into the lifeworld of – Gaining trust
the respondents – Focus groups
– Qualitative (case-study) – Participatory observations
– Induction (data-theory- – In-depth interviews
hypothesis; grounded – Discourse analysis
theory)
– Ethnomethodology
– Sensitizing concepts
– Life histories
– Purposive sample/typical
case-studies – Etc.
– External validity?
– Theoretical generalization
– Possibility to detect ‘trends’
 INDUCTION
Theory

Tentative Hypothesis

Pattern

Observation
 CRITICAL REALISM

• Also called postpositivism and neo-postpositivism.

• There is no absolute knowledge. But: knowledge is
constructed and real at the same time.
• Reality consists of structures and actors and they
interact: they form each other= morphogenesis.
• Realist logic is called Abduction/retroduction: it
cycles between deduction and induction.
 Critical Realism: Epistemology and
Methodology
• EPISTEMOLOGY • METHODOLOGY
– Study relations between – Mixed methods
structures and actors:
morphogenesis
– The use of multiple theories
is allowed
– Reality cannot be
understood by only one
overarching theory
– Eclectism and pluralism
 ABDUCTIVE REASONING
• typically begins with an incomplete set of
observations and proceeds to the likeliest possible
explanation for the set
• is the process of reasoning to the best explanations.
In other words, it is the reasoning process that starts
from a set of facts and derives their most likely
explanations.
• The term abduction is sometimes used to mean just
the generation of hypotheses to explain observations
or conclusions, but the former definition is more
common both in philosophy and computing
Detective work
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 Epistemology (How do we know and
why we want to know) – other views
OBJECTIVISM SUBJECTIVISM

EXPLAIN UNDERSTAND

Transformative/
Emancipatory

‘Can Change It’

(Marx, Habermas etc.)
 Epistemology (How do we know and
why we want to know) – other views
OBJECTIVISM SUBJECTIVISM

EXPLAIN UNDERSTAND

Pragmatism
‘Can use It’
(Not to describe but as
basis to predict and to solve
problems)
Dewey and Putnam Plurality
How we know and Why do we
want to know is often linked

You must be clear about this

Knowledge is built ON
Knowledge – so what can you
use to build the form of
knowledge that you want to
build?
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Research as a Project
Chain of Reasoning

Krathwohl, 1998
 Research Processes
• Messy
• Iterative
• Not linear
• Many models
• Lets use the U model
• We cycle through it until it is stable and aligned
• Then we cut it open and stretch it out!
 The U Model- Overview
The Problem Contribute
Area
!
The
Research
Problem

Answer The
Research research
Question Question
Structured
Research Analyze and
Question synthesize the
results

Reality
Detailed Literature HOW TO
Review EXTRACT
EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
 The U Model- Overview
The Problem
Area

Trade off – between do-ability

and ability to contribute to
The problem area
Research
Problem
 The U Model- Step 1
Moving from problem area to research question

i r i c al n
m p a t i o
E t a n ti
u b s
The Problem Area S

BOK
Subs
ta n ti a ti
The Research on
Problem

Research Cleaning up
Question
 The U Model- Overview
The Problem
Area

The
Research
Problem

Research
Question
Structured
Research
Question
 Alignment

The Problem
Area
Title Aim
The
Research
Problem

Research
Question
 The U Model- Overview
The Problem Contribute
Area
!
The
Research
Problem

Answer The
Research research
Question Question
Structured
Research Analyze and
Question synthesize the
results

Reality
Detailed Literature HOW TO
Review EXTRACT
EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
 The U Model- Mapping
The Problem Contribution
Area
!
The
Research
Aim
Problem

Research Objectives Answer The

research
Question
Question

Reality
Detailed Literature HOW TO
Review EXTRACT
EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
 The U Model- Flow
The Problem
Area
!
The
Research
Problem

Answer The
Research
research
Question
Question

Reality
Detailed Literature HOW TO
Review EXTRACT
EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
 The U Model- Cyclical
The Problem
Area
!
The
Research
Problem

Answer The
Research
research
Question
Question

Reality
Detailed Literature HOW TO
Review EXTRACT
EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
The U Model- Cut it open when Finished

The Problem Area

!
The
Research
Problem

Research Answer The

Question research Question

Reality
Detailed Literature HOW TO
Review EXTRACT
EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
 The Golden Thread

The The Research

Problem Research Question
Area Problem

Detailed Answer The

Literature Research Reality research Question
Review Design Conclusio
How will I
What is
add to
n
currently what is
Known known
 The Golden Anchor

The Problem
Area

Title The
Research
Aim
Problem

Research
Question
 Assignment 1
Assignment
1b
The Problem Contribute
Area
!
The
Research
Assign Problem
ment
1a Answer The
Research research
Question Question
Structured
Research
Analyze and
Question
synthesize the
results

Reality
Detailed Literature HOW TO
Review EXTRACT
EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
 Assignment 2
The Problem Contribute
Area
!
The
Research
Problem

Answer The
Research research
Question Question
Structured
Research Analyze and
Question synthesize the
results

Reality
Detailed Literature HOW TO
Review EXTRACT
EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
 Assignment 3
The Problem Contribute
Area
!
The
Research
Problem

Answer The
Research research
Question Question
Structured
Research Analyze and
Question synthesize the
results

Reality
Detailed Literature
Assignment 1 HOW TO
Review EXTRACT
EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
 Assignment 4
The Problem Contribute
Area
!
The
Research
Problem

Answer The
Research research
Question Question
Structured
Research Analyze and
Question synthesize the
results

Reality
Detailed Literature HOW TO
Review EXTRACT
EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
 Proposal
The Problem Contribute
Area
!
The
Research
Problem

Answer The
Research research
Question Question
Structured
Research Analyze and
Question synthesize the
results

Reality
Detailed Literature HOW TO
Review EXTRACT
EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
Questions?

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