Ch 2 Flashcards
Epistemology
knowledge, or how people know what they claim to know.
To what extent can knowledge exist before experience? Many believe that all knowledge arises from experience.
To what extent can knowledge be certain? Does knowledge exist in the world as an absolute—there for the taking by whoever can discover it? Or is knowledge relative and changing?
By what process does knowledge arise? This question is at the heart of epistemology because the kind of process selected for discovering knowledge determines the kind of knowledge that develops from that process.
Is knowledge best conceived in parts or wholes? Those who take a holistic approach believe that phenomena are highly interrelated and operate as a system. True knowledge, in other words, cannot be divided into parts but consists of general, indivisible, gestalt understandings.
To what extent is knowledge explicit? Many philosophers and scholars believe that you cannot know something unless you can state it. Within this view, knowledge is that which can be articulated explicitly.
Ontology
the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of being. Epistemology and ontology go hand in hand because our ideas about knowledge depend in large part on our ideas about who is doing the knowing.
First, to what extent do humans make real choices? Although all investigators probably would agree that people perceive choice, there is a long-standing philosophical debate on whether real choice is possible.
determinists who state that behavior is caused by a multitude of prior conditions that largely determine human behavior.
pragmatists, who claim that people plan their behavior to meet future goals.
whether human behavior is best understood in terms of states or traits. 19 This question deals with whether there are fairly stable dimensions—traits—or more temporary conditions affecting people, called states. The state view argues that humans are dynamic and go through numerous states in the course of a day, year, and lifetime. The trait view believes that people are mostly predictable because they display more or less consistent characteristics across time.
Is human experience primarily individual or social? This ontological question deals with whether the individual or the group carries the most weight in terms of determining human action.
To what extent is communication contextual? The focus of this question is whether behavior is governed by universal principles or whether it depends on situational factors.
Axiology
the branch of philosophy concerned with the study of values. What values guide research, and what are the implications of those values for the outcome of the research process?
Can theory be value free? Classical science answers this first axiological concern in the affirmative—theories and research are value free, scholarship is neutral,
to what extent does the process of inquiry itself affect what is being seen?
Should scholarship be designed to achieve change, or is its function simply to generate knowledge?
The first position is value-free scholarship in which researchers believe they can seek objectivity without personal values affecting the scholarship. The second position is valueconscious scholarship in which researchers recognize the importance of values to research and theory, are careful to acknowledge their particular standpoints, and make concerted efforts to direct those values in positive ways.
Concepts
Concepts—terms and definitions—tell us what the theorist is looking at and what is considered important.
Those theories that stop at the conceptual level—theories in which the goal is to provide a list of categories for something without explaining how they relate to one another—are known as taxonomies. Because they do not provide an understanding of how things work, many theorists are reluctant to label them theories. The best theories, then, go beyond taxonomies to provide explanations—statements about how the variables relate to one another—to show how concepts are connected.
Explanations
An explanation is the next dimension of a theory, and here the theorist identifies regularities or patterns in the relationships among variables. Put simply, explanation answers the question: Why?
Causal explanation
causal explanation, events are connected as causal relationships, with one variable seen as an outcome or result of the other.
Practical explanation
Practical explanation, on the other hand, explains actions as goal related, with the action designed to achieve a future state. In causal explanation, the consequent event is determined by some antecedent event.
Principles
a guideline that enables you to interpret an event, make judgments about what is happening, and then decide how to act in the situation. A principle has three parts:
(1) It identifies a situation or event;
(2) it includes a set of norms or values; and
(3) it asserts a connection between a range of actions and possible consequences.
For example, you might say: (1) When giving a public speech (situation); (2) your audience is very important (value); and (3) you should make an attempt to adapt to the knowledge, attitudes, and actions of the audience.
Nomothetic Theory’s
defined as that which seeks universal or general laws.
Hypothetico-deductive method
(1) developing questions; (2) forming hypotheses; (3) testing hypotheses; and (4) formulating theory. This approach is known as the hypothetico-deductive method, and it is based on the assumption that we can best understand complex things by analyzing the various parts or elements that comprise it. Thus, this approach is also sometimes called the variable-analytic tradition.
Variable analytic tradition
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Hypothesis
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Operationalism
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Practical theory
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Theory evaluation
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Theoretical scope
theory’s scope is its comprehensiveness or inclusiveness. Theoretical scope relies on the principle of generality or the idea that a theory’s explanation must be sufficiently general to extend beyond a single observation.
Appropriateness
the theory’s epistemological, ontological, and axiological assumptions appropriate for the theoretical questions addressed and the research methods used?
Heuristic value
Will the theory generate new ideas for research and additional theory? Does it have heuristic value? Theories within the nomothetic and practical ideals differ significantly in this regard. Both need to be heuristic (to aid discovery), but they accomplish this value in different ways. Nomothetic theories are heuristic in generating new research questions, new hypotheses, and new concepts or variables. Practical theories are heuristic to the extent that they produce new ideas by continually exploring new situations.
Validity
validity is the truth value of a theory. “Truth” is not intended to mean absolute unchanging fact; rather, there may be a variety of “truth values” in an experience.
1) value, or worth. This kind of validity refers to the importance or utility of a theory—does the theory have value?
2) correspondence, or fit. Here the question is whether the concepts and relations specified by the theory actually can be observed.
3) generalizability, which is exactly the same as theoretical scope, discussed above.
Parsimony
logical simplicity. If two theories are equally valid, the one with the simplest logical explanation is better.
Openness
a theory is open to other possibilities. 55 It is tentative, contextual, and qualified. The theorist recognizes that his construction is a way of looking rather than a reproduction of reality.
Philosophical assumptions
The assumptions to which a theorist subscribes determine how a particular theory will play out. Knowing the assumptions behind a theory, then, is the first step to understanding that theory. Philosophical assumptions often are divided into three major types: epistemology, ontology, axiology.
