Educational Research Methods
This is a personal site of Keith S. Taber to support teaching of educational research methods.
(Dr Keith Taber is Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.)
2015
A site to support teaching and learning...
Epistemology
Epistemology is an area of philosophy concerned with the nature and sources of knowledge. As research is often seen as about developing/constructing new knowledge, epistemology is very relevant to all research.
Epistemology and Research
“The two aspects of ‘philosophy’ considered to underpin research paradigms are beliefs (or ‘commitments’) about the nature of the world (what kind of things exist in the world, and what is their nature?), and so the nature of the phenomena studied in research; and beliefs about the nature and status of human knowledge, and so how we might come to hold knowledge. These concerns are known technically as ‘ontology’ and ‘epistemology’ respectively.” (Taber, 2013: 47)
Piaget (1970/1972: 17), for example, developed his work within what he considered “an epistemology that is naturalist without being positivist”, and which posited a constructivist take on the nature of knowledge.
Piaget, J. (1970/1972). The Principles of Genetic Epistemology (W. Mays, Trans.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Everyday epistemology - you practice epistemology every day!
If you think that epistemology sounds somewhat scary / abstract / irrelevant then you could not be more wrong.
Try out some everyday epistemology: download this introductory activity Everyday epistemology KST.pdf .
Taber, K. S. (2013). Classroom-based Research and Evidence-based Practice: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
