When I first began the readings the terms methodology and ontology were new concepts. Now I think I am starting to understand what these concepts mean. To me ontology is what things we question, and methodology is how we decide we will answer our questions about social reality. I think research can study both things […]
Research Portfolio Post #3
The idea of ontology can be described as the beliefs about the nature of reality, which can also be asked as what is out there in the social world to know. Current debates within ontology include behaviorism versus culturalism, individualism versus emergentism, realism versus constructionism, and contextualism versus noncontectualism. Each of these debates greatly affect […]
Research Portfolio Post #3: Philosophical Wagers
Though we are not to repeat the definitions provided in class, I find it necessary to at least provide a definition to present a basis for my ability to articulate my understandings of both ontology and methodology. Ontology, as described in class, is an individual’s idea of the world and the knowledge that world can […]
Research Portfolio Post #3: Philosophical Wagers
I see ontology and methodology as very connected terms. Ontology, to me, is the study of being, looking at what exists in the world, and what it means that something exists, or as Jonathan Grix would define it, “what is out there to know?”[1] It can be difficult to grasp this concept when just looking […]
Research Portfolio Post #3: Philosophical Wagers
Inherent philosophical commitments, as we have learned, are not necessarily bad things to have. Although no one methodology or theory is the ‘right’ one, it can surely be right for us, for a particular project. In order to understand and then properly employ these methodologies, we must have a firm grasp on what it is […]
Research Portfolio Post #3: Philosophical Wagers
Ontology concerns the reality of the world. Before considering the means with which we know, or the ends to which we apply our thinking, we must first decide what reality and being are. For instance, our ontological assumptions about the state of the social and natural worlds necessarily influence how we approach them. If as […]
Research Portfolio Post #3: Philosophical Wagers
In my eyes, ontology is the study of what is through the lens of a research model. This pairs well with the writings of sociologist Andrew Abbott, where he describes social ontology through the various lenses which he proposes can be used to study his field.[1]For example, in the positivist realm of thought, the world […]
Philosophical Wagers
For me, understanding ontology and methodology has been easiest when I can examine the debates that interpretivist and positivists have over those concepts. Positivists, in attempting to apply the tenants of natural science to the social world, believe that socialization is governed by universal, stable rules, and if they can research enough, they will be […]
RPP #3: Philosophical Wagers
As much as I would like to say that I can be an objective observer of the social world, I believe that researchers, including myself, are inseparable from the world in which they live in and are attempting to better understand. So, when it comes to ontology or the possible information or knowledge that exists […]
Research Progress Post #3
Ontology and methodology are schools of thought that explain different philosophies of science. Ontology covers a larger image of how we view the social world and how we believe it inherently functions. Namely, objectivists believe the social world exists apart from humans, and has stable qualities, in comparison to constructivists, who believe the social world […]