RES701 Blog #2

What is ontology? How is it relevant to research?
The word ontology comes from the Greek words “Onto” and “Logia“.
Onto = “Existence, being real”
Logia = “Study or science”
Ontology is the study of reality and being. It looks at the nature of existence and how people experience reality. It essentially covers everything that is observable, what we can see and experience in the world.

Different humans and cultures in the world have different ontological beliefs. When researching it’s important to consider that peoples different ontological views (what is real or true and what is not) vary and may have had an impact on the research or data they have gathered.

I have extracted three ontological beliefs from this video to understand how ontology and epistemology relate in research to form paradigms.
* The belief that there is one single reality or truth
* The belief that there are multiple realities
* The belief that reality is constantly changing and interpreted differently
More on this in the last section.

What is epistemology? How is it relevant to research?
The word epistemology comes from the Greek words “Epistēmē“and “Logia“.
Epistēmē = “Knowledge”
Logia = “Study or science”
Epistemology is a philosophical term often referred to as the “theory of knowledge” and can be considered the explanation behind an ontological claim. Epistemology looks at questions such as:

• What does it mean to say you know something?
• How do you know that you know something?
• What makes a justified believe justified?

When someone says they “know” something, epistemology would look at how they claim that they know something. How are they justifying a claim to say something is “true”?

In our research our epistemology will effect the methods and tools we use to conduct our research. The tools or methods we use reflect our epistemology, by using a research method or tool we must agree to the epistemology of that method or tool for our research to hold any validity.

Three epistemological stances from the same video:
* Knowledge can be measured using reliable tools
* Reality needs to be interpreted to discover underlying meaning
* Knowledge should be examined with whatever tools are best suited to the problem

What is the connection between ontology and epistemology in a research context?

When you combine your ontology and epistemology you gain a better view of how you understand knowledge. With the above examples of ontological and epistemological belief, the combination of these leads to something known as a research paradigm.

The definition of paradigm is as follows:
“In science and philosophy, a paradigm is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitutes legitimate contributions to a field.” – Paradigm. (2020, January 12). Retrieved March 9, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm

The three most common research paradigms are (According to the video):
* Positivism
* Constructivism
* Pragmatism

Positivists have the ontological belief that there is one reality or truth and the epistemological view that knowledge can be measured.

Constructivists have the ontological belief that there are multiple realities or truths and the epistemological view that reality needs to be interpreted to discover the truth.

Pragmatists have the ontological belief that reality is constantly debated, interpreted and changing and the epistemological view that knowledge should be examined with the tools and methods best suited for the problem.