A topic in research methodology
Ontological questions (that ask about the nature of things) are important in research.
There are global questions about the nature of reality that have been much discussed by philosophers, but researchers are usually more concerned with the nature of the things they carry out research into. For example, if someone wanted to undertake research into gifted students then before they start they should form a clear view of what counts as a gifted student (as there is no single agreed definition to work from). Often in social research there are different ways of understanding research foci, and the choices made have consequences for the kind of knowledge one can expect to find (a matter of epistemology) and how the research needs to be carried (a matter of methodology).
What is the nature of…?
Often in studies in areas such as education there are different ways of understanding a research focus and researchers need to ask questions such as: How should we understand the nature of [whatever] before setting out on their research.
There are different possible answers to the question of what is the nature of…
- Intelligence
- Bullying
- Effective teaching
These are not trivial questions – for example, depending on the purposes of research around bullying we may be interested in characterising bullying according to certain objective criteria, or we may wish to identify examples of incidence that those involved consider bullying. Neither option is inherently right or wrong, but making the right choice will be important in a particular topic.
"Consider a study which had the research questions:
Taber, 2013, p.115
• How often does bullying occur in this class?
• What do students in this class understand bullying to be?
The first (positivist) question assumes there is a clear definition of bullying which would allow bullying incidents to be identified and counted; the second (interpretivist) question assumes that 'bullying' is a socially constructed category given meaning by individuals. If a researcher attempted to simultaneously answer both questions, they would need to recognise that they could not assume that 'bullying' in the two questions was referring to the same thing."
Ontology matters in research
Here are two examples of why a researcher needs to consider the nature of their research foci.
What is learning?
In everyday discourse we use words like 'learning' fairly loosely, and people generally understand us. It is part of a 'mental register' of words such as thinking, clever, know, etc., which have well understood but vague everyday meanings which are insufficiently definitive to be used in research.
There are different ways learning can be understood. For example,
If one was undertaking research into learning, it would matter how 'learning' was understood and defined. Consider the question
What type of instruction best brings about learning?
How one goes about answering this will depend on what we mean by 'learning'. So we would need to define the term for the purposes of any research study.
What counts as teaching?
There are similar issues with teaching.
If teaching only occurs when it leads to learning, then a lot of what seems to be teaching may not be. (And to identify teaching we would need to know learning has occurred?) And can it be any learning (perhaps learning about evolutiuon but misunderstanding natural selection as being the inheritance of acquired characteristics), or does it have to match that intended?
And does 'teaching' include such things as giving out general notices, taking a register, handing out books, rebuking learners for poor behaviour – it might for some purposes, but not others. So, we would need to decide before setting out on research.
If teaching is actions intended to bring about learning it may be easier to identify than if it needs to produce learning – but strictly that means we have to know the teacher's intentions. And if the teacher is in the bath planning the lesson, or correcting student work to offer formative feedback – are these actions intended to bring about learning? If so,a lot of the teaching takes place out of the classroom away form the students. There is no 'right' answer to the question of what teaching is – but we need to know the appropriate meaning in any research into teaching.
Only when we have considered these issues can we considered what kind of knowledge we can reasonably seek about a research focus, and so how to best phrase research questions (which will then inform the most suitable research design to answer our questions).
Source cited:
- Taber, K. S. (2013). Classroom-based Research and Evidence-based Practice: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
Notes:
1 Even in this case there might be complications. For example, if a Bunsen burner is so damaged that it is not serviceable, should it be included in the count? (Probably not.) If a Bunsen burner is not currently being used because its rubber hose has perished, should it be counted? (Probably yes, as it can easily be fitted with some new hose.) Without some such criteria different observers may produce different counts.
My introduction to educational research:
Taber, K. S. (2013). Classroom-based Research and Evidence-based Practice: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
