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.)
A site to support teaching and learning...
Ontology
Ontology is a philosophical notion that concerns the nature of things. We might for example consider that the English School System, the Faculty of Education, the UK Secretary of State for Education, Lev Vygotsky and Miss Jean Brodie are quite different in nature. Brodie, for example, is a fictional character so does not exist in the same sense as Vygotsky or the Education Secretary. Vygotsky was a real historical person who is well documented, but is long dead, so does not exist now in the same sense as the Education Secretary. The Education Secretary is a real living person, but by referring to the office, rather than the name of the individual, we imply a person who is part of a historical chain of individuals - the Education Secretary today is not the same person as ten years ago.
“Ontology is a specification of what exists.” (Newby: 2014: 35)
Newby, P. (2014). Research Methods for Education (Second ed.). Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge.
Everyday ontology
We all ‘do’ ontology all the time as we make sense of the world. If you think ontology is intrinsically difficult or obscure, you might want to consider some examples of everyday ontology then take a look at Everyday ontology KST.pdf.
Ontology and research
It is very important when planing research to consider the nature of the research focus, and so the kind of knowledge it may be possible to generate about it (an epistemological question).
“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)
What exactly is ... ‘understanding’?
Consider for example that someone planned to undertake research into people’s understanding of some concept or topic or activity. An important part of developing a conceptual framework to support the research would be to explore different notions of ‘understanding’ and coming to a view of the nature of understanding - the ontological nature of the focus of the research.
Taber, K. S. (2013). Classroom-based Research and Evidence-based Practice: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
