Epistemology

Question 1

beliefs about reality or truth

Answer 1

Ontology

Question 2

one truth; objective measurements; does not change; generalizable

Answer 2

Realism

Question 3

multiple realities exist; shaped by context; truth evolves and changes; cannot be generalized but may use in similar context

Answer 3

Relativism

Question 4

a branch of philosophy concerned with the theory of knowledge.

Answer 4

Epistemology

Question 5

methods of knowing; how do we get knowledge? how do we discover new things?

Answer 5

Epistemology

Question 6

-generate knowledge that captures and reflects as truthfully as possible something that is happening in the real world

-‘something’ exists independently

-true nature of social/psychological events

-accurate picture of (some aspects of) the social
world or of human psychology

-causes

Answer 6

Realist approach

Question 7

the view that theories refer to real features of the world.

Answer 7

Scientific realism

Question 8

refers to whatever it is in the universe that causes the phenomena we perceive with our senses.

Answer 8

Reality

Question 9

A ___ approach presupposes that the world and what happens in it, how and why, can be understood provided that the researcher is skilled enough to uncover the patterns, regularities and structures of experience and behaviour which characterize human existence

Answer 9

Realist approach

Question 10

discover orientation = detective

Answer 10

realist approach

Question 11

take the participants’ accounts at face value

Answer 11

Direct (naive) realist

Question 12

data needs to be interpreted in order to further our understanding of the underlying structures which generate the phenomena we are trying to gain knowledge about

Answer 12

Critical realist

Question 13

the aim of the research is to produce knowledge about the subjective experience of research participants. _____ research is concerned with
the quality and texture of experience

Answer 13

Phenomenological approach

Question 14

is interested in the experiential world of the participant rather than the ‘real’ (material, social or psychological) structures which may give rise to particular experiences.

Answer 14

Phenomenological research

Question 15

What appears to be the ‘same’ event (e.g. a
divorce, a diagnosis, an accident) can be
experienced in many different ways

True or False?

Answer 15

True

Question 16

There are potentially as many (experiential)
worlds as there are individuals

True or False

Answer 16

True

Question 17

• is concerned with capturing experience precisely as it presents itself, neither adding nor subtracting from it
• the researcher stays as close as possible to the data, extracting the essence of the experiential quality of the experience from the account without attributing meanings to it which are ‘imported’ from outside of the account itself

Answer 17

Descriptive phenomenology

Question 18

• seeks to generate knowledge about the quality and texture of experience as well as about its meaning within a particular social, cultural, and psychological context.
• You as a researcher will give interpretations
  based on the context that your participants are
  in

Answer 18

Interpretative phenomenology

Question 19

• how people construct versions of reality through the use of language
• study discourses (written or spoken communication )
• Knowledge exists because we give them reality
  through social agreements

Answer 19

Social constructionist approach