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INDEPENDENT LEARNING ACTIVITY- Field Methods

The document discusses the importance of understanding philosophy in social science research, focusing on ontology, epistemology, and philosophical perspectives. It emphasizes how researchers' beliefs and choices influence research design and outcomes, and highlights the need for clarity in these philosophical foundations to ensure meaningful interpretations of research. Additionally, it distinguishes between methodology and methods, outlining the strategic approach to research and the specific tools used for data collection and analysis.

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15 views

INDEPENDENT LEARNING ACTIVITY- Field Methods

The document discusses the importance of understanding philosophy in social science research, focusing on ontology, epistemology, and philosophical perspectives. It emphasizes how researchers' beliefs and choices influence research design and outcomes, and highlights the need for clarity in these philosophical foundations to ensure meaningful interpretations of research. Additionally, it distinguishes between methodology and methods, outlining the strategic approach to research and the specific tools used for data collection and analysis.

Uploaded by

nathanesse13
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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INDEPENDENT LEARNING ACTIVITY

(For February 25, 2025)

TASKS:
 READ AND LEARN.
 WRITE YOUR INSIGHTS INCLUDING WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED AND HOW IT AFFECTED YOU
AS A STUDENT AND FUTURE RESEARCHER.

1. SOURCE: https://i2insights.org/2017/05/02/philosophy-for-
interdisciplinarity/

A guide to ontology, epistemology, and philosophical perspectives for


interdisciplinary researchers

May 2, 2017

By Katie Moon and Deborah Blackman

1. Katie Moon (biography)


2. Deborah Blackman (biography)

How can understanding philosophy improve our research? How can an


understanding of what frames our research influence our choices? Do
researchers’ personal thoughts and beliefs shape research design, outcomes
and interpretation?

These questions are all important for social science research. Here we
present a philosophical guide for scientists to assist in the production of
effective social science (adapted from Moon and Blackman, 2014).

Understanding philosophy is important because social science research can


only be meaningfully interpreted when there is clarity about the decisions
that were taken that affect the research outcomes. Some of these decisions
are based, not always knowingly, on some key philosophical principles, as
outlined in the figure below.
Philosophy provides the general principles of theoretical thinking, a method
of cognition, perspective and self-awareness, all of which are used to obtain
knowledge of reality and to design, conduct, analyse and interpret research
and its outcomes. The figure below shows three main branches of philosophy
that are important in the sciences and serves to illustrate the differences
between them.
Social science research guide consisting of ontology, epistemology, and
philosophical perspectives. When read from left to right, elements take on a
more multidimensional nature (eg., epistemology: objectivism to
subjectivism). The elements within each branch are positioned according to
their congruence with elements from other branches so when read from top
to bottom (or bottom to top), elements from one branch align with elements
from another (eg., critical realist ontology, constructionist epistemology, and
interpretivist philosophical perspectives). Subcategories of elements (ie.,
3.5a–c and 3.6a–c) are to be interpreted as positioned under the parent
category (ie., 3.5 interpretivism and 3.6 critical theory).

(Source: Moon and Blackman 2014)

Ontology

The first branch is ontology, or the ‘study of being’, which is concerned with
what actually exists in the world about which humans can acquire
knowledge. Ontology helps researchers recognize how certain they can be
about the nature and existence of objects they are researching. For instance,
what ‘truth claims’ can a researcher make about reality? Who decides the
legitimacy of what is ‘real’? How do researchers deal with different and
conflicting ideas of reality?

To illustrate, realist ontology relates to the existence of one single reality


which can be studied, understood and experienced as a ‘truth’; a real world
exists independent of human experience. Meanwhile, relativist ontology is
based on the philosophy that reality is constructed within the human mind,
such that no one ‘true’ reality exists. Instead, reality is ‘relative’ according to
how individuals experience it at any given time and place.

Epistemology

The second branch is epistemology, the ‘study of knowledge’. Epistemology


is concerned with all aspects of the validity, scope and methods of acquiring
knowledge, such as a) what constitutes a knowledge claim; b) how can
knowledge be acquired or produced; and c) how the extent of its
transferability can be assessed. Epistemology is important because it
influences how researchers frame their research in their attempts to discover
knowledge.

By looking at the relationship between a subject and an object we can


explore the idea of epistemology and how it influences research design.
Objectivist epistemology assumes that reality exists outside, or
independently, of the individual mind. Objectivist research is useful in
providing reliability (consistency of results obtained) and external validity
(applicability of the results to other contexts).

Constructionist epistemology rejects the idea that objective ‘truth’ exists and
is waiting to be discovered. Instead, ‘truth’, or meaning, arises in and out of
our engagement with the realities in our world. That is, a ‘real world’ does
not preexist independently of human activity or symbolic language. The
value of constructionist research is in generating contextual understandings
of a defined topic or problem.

Subjectivist epistemology relates to the idea that reality can be expressed in


a range of symbol and language systems, and is stretched and shaped to fit
the purposes of individuals such that people impose meaning on the world
and interpret it in a way that makes sense to them. For example, a scuba
diver might interpret a shadow in the water according to whether they were
alerted to a shark in the area (the shark), waiting for a boat (the boat), or
expecting a change in the weather (clouds). The value of subjectivist
research is in revealing how an individual’s experience shapes their
perception of the world.

Philosophical perspectives

Stemming from ontology (what exists for people to know about) and
epistemology (how knowledge is created and what is possible to know) are
philosophical perspectives, a system of generalized views of the world, which
form beliefs that guide action.

Philosophical perspectives are important because, when made explicit, they


reveal the assumptions that researchers are making about their research,
leading to choices that are applied to the purpose, design, methodology and
methods of the research, as well as to data analysis and interpretation. At
the most basic level, the mere choice of what to study in the sciences
imposes values on one’s subject.

Conclusion

Understanding the philosophical basis of science is critical in ensuring that


research outcomes are appropriately and meaningfully interpreted. With an
increase in interdisciplinary research, an examination of the points of
difference and intersection between the philosophical approaches can
generate critical reflection and debate about what we can know, what we
can learn and how this knowledge can affect the conduct of science and the
consequent decisions and actions.

How does your philosophical standpoint affect your research? What are your
experiences of clashing philosophical perspectives in interdisciplinary
research? How did you become aware of them and resolve them? Do you
think that researchers need to recognize different philosophies in
interdisciplinary research teams?
2. METHODS AND METHODOLOGY

What’s the difference between method and methodology?


Methodology refers to the overarching strategy and rationale of
your research project. Itinvolves studying the methods used in your field and
the theories or principles behind them, in order to develop an approach that
matches your objectives.

Methods are the specific tools and procedures you use to collect and analyze
data (for example, experiments, surveys, and statistical tests).
In shorter scientific papers, where the aim is to report the findings of a
specific study, you might simply describe what you did in a methods
section.

In a longer or more complex research project, such as a thesis or dissertation,


you will probably include a methodology section, where you explain your
approach to answering the research questions and cite relevant sources to
support your choice of methods.

Research methods are specific procedures for collecting and analyzing data.
Developing your research methods is an integral part of your research design.
When planning your methods, there are two key decisions you will make.

First, decide how you will collect data. Your methods depend on what type of
data you need to answer your research question:
 Qualitative vs. quantitative: Will your data take the form of words
or numbers?
 Primary vs. secondary: Will you collect original data yourself, or will
you use data that has already been collected by someone else?
 Descriptive vs. experimental: Will you take measurements of
something as it is, or will you perform an experiment?
Second, decide how you will analyze the data.
 For quantitative data, you can use statistical analysis methods to test
relationships between variables.
 For qualitative data, you can use methods such as thematic analysis to
interpret patterns and meanings in the data.

Wait for the LINK /Assignment Tab to upload your INSIGHTS

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