Epistemological and Methodological Approaches - Essay Example

Epistemological and methodological approaches  Methodology generally involves the philosophy of the research design. First of all a research methodology should consist of an epistemology that is the rules of truth. The rules of truth are needed to check the validity of the research statement and it also requires an ontology which is basically the objects that are required to establish the research questions that will be asked in the research and about which the conclusions will be drawn. Virtually epistemology in research means the rule of sciences that derives conclusions based on the information and arguments that are derived from the research study. It includes only those information that can be tested by various means. The ontology of research on the other hand involves the world view with which the researcher progresses towards the study. (Jupp, 2006) The epistemological approach involves a conceptualizing process which shows how theory involves and how the theory is revised by varying degree. The epistemological approach involves the development of a qualitative approach and the qualitative approach gets validated by the quantitative methods. The quantitative method always has its origin in the qualitative methods because it is not possible that any quantitative derivation can be made without a qualitative basis. (Munhall, 2006) The major methodological positions that are involved in a research design are the positivist approach that is the quantitative approach. (McNabb, 2004) The positivist approach can also be called a scientific inquiry that emerges from the metaphysical reaction. Positivism is closely related to empiricism that refers to the scientific methods the aim of which is to establish the truth. The idealistic approach is primarily the qualitative approach. According to idealism reality is not separate from the individuals it is created by the individual mind. The positivist approach combined with the idealist methods can produce a good research design. (Potter, 1996) The first study which we will discuss in the paper is based on the fire setter children and the analysis has been given to justify the behavior of those children. Various causes have been put forward as to why the children behave in such an aggressive manner. The study has also taken into account the difference in attitudes between the fire-setter and non-fire setter children. The second study has discussed about the role which the disturbed social relations play in making an individual deviant in nature. The study has focused on the fact that the treatment of a deviant individual should involve correction of the disturbed social relations around an individual and not merely treating the individual. Study One has involved a combination of both positivist and idealist approach that is a combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods with more emphasis on the positivist approach. Whereas Study Two has mainly concentrated on the idealist approach that is it has given more emphasis on the theoretical explanations instead of establishing the validity of the study with the help of the quantitative results. The aim of this paper is to study the epistemologies and the ontology that is involved in both the studies. The paper will try to find out the different epistemologies and ontological positions that have been adopted in case of both the studies. The difference of approach will be noted in both the studies. These all will be done after careful examination of the two studies and after closely examining the meanings of epistemology in a research analysis and after taking into consideration the effectiveness of epistemology in a research study. The first study, ‘Aggression and Psychopathology in Childhood Firesetters: Parent and Child Reports’ by Kolko, Kazdin and Meyer (1985) shows that the fire setting children show a lot of difference in behavior. It has said that the children who are fire setters show deviant behaviors like stealing, lying, fighting, low performance in school, emotional crisis and it was also noticed that they have a very limited guilt conscious. They lack the effect of the conscience that is their conscience does not prevent them from doing any wrong deed. The main methodological deficiency in the first study was that it did not contain any control group which would help to arrive at the validity of the study more easily. The other problems of the study were that it did not present a properly defined sample. The study also contained ineffective and poor conceptualizations. The procedures involved in the study were quite peculiar in nature. In the first study certain generalizations have been made like the fire setter children generally exhibit low social skills and they score higher in externalization of behavior than internalizing of behavior. It has also been mentioned in the study that the fire setting children exhibit a conduct disorder that is they tend to be bear a delinquent behavior and they report to show more aggressive behavior. In the study it has also been said that those children generally tend to be fire setters those who come from a family which has only the mother. Again those children tend to be more aggressive in nature those who come from a large family and those who have poor social or peer relations. The study has taken certain sample size which included both the fire setter and the non-fire setter children. It included only those fire setter and non fire setter children who had reported some conduct disorder. The aim was to find out the differences in behavior between the fire setters and the non fire setters. It also incorporated questionnaire which was administered to the children as well as to the parents. This was done in order to find out the general attitude of the children who were reported to have some conduct disorder. The questionnaire was given to the parents as well in order to find out the essential differences between the attitudes of the parents of children who were fire setters and those who were non-fire setters. The questions also wanted to find out what attitudes the parents had about their fire setter children. One more purpose which the questioning of the parents served was that it reflected the pattern of relation that existed between the parents and the children. Then the findings were expressed in quantitative form and generalizations were made based on the quantitative findings. In this study the application of theories was not adequate and hence we were not able to find all the explanations of the generalizations which were formulated about the fire-setter children. The study is based on a lot of empiricism therefore it becomes difficult to arrive at a validity based on both idealist and positivist method. The hypothesis that is developed in the study is that the fire setter children tend to be more socially destructive and they are ones who present more of deviant attitudes. The theoretical position is not very clear from the first study it attempts to arrive at theories based on the empirical values of the study. The ontological position taken in this study was to arrive at findings based on the quantitative data. The generalization that is achieved in the study is completely based on the findings which were received from the questionnaire sheets.  In this case the research tried to validate his study by telling on the fact that as majority findings went in one particular direction therefore we could easily base our findings in that particular direction. Therefore we can say that the generalizations were completely biased by the findings. (Kolko, Kazdin and Meyer, 1985). The Second Study, ‘Crisis Intervention in the Family of a Firesetter’ by Eisler (1972) on the other hand takes a completely different approach from the first one. The focus of this study is that the deviant behavior of individuals to a great extent is dependent on the disturbed social relations of the individual and the treatment should aim at correcting those disturbed relations if it wants to bring the individual back to the right track. The study proceeds taking into account a particular case study whereas in the first study we had seen that a sample was selected for proceeding with the study. This can be said to be an essential difference in the epistemological approaches of both the studies. The study takes into the account the case of JJ who was a fourteen year old boy and who reported to have set several of large grass fires. He was actually adopted by a couple who was childless in the initial years of their marriage. But later on the couple had their own children and JJ was told about his adoption. The study emphasizes the close observation of the family. It in fact made observation possible of all the members of the family by involving a social help group. Especially the behavioral pattern of JJ was most closely observed.  The group which was studying the case made careful observation of the daily activities of JJ, his relations with his family members especially his mother. The study also involved how JJ reacted to various situations. This was done so that it becomes easy for the researchers to arrive at a conclusion. Again here we find a major difference in the second study with respect to the first study in the fact that the second study involved the observational methods, whereas the first study had adopted a method in which questions were asked to the participants or better said to the main objects of the study. The first study involved the direct participation of the objects of the study whereas the second study involved a passive participation of the objects because all derivations were made based on the observations of the objects. Here again we can say that we have been able to observe two different epistemological approaches in both the studies. The ultimate goal of both the methods is the same but the ontology is different. The ontology of the first is based on generalization from findings and the ontological approach of the second study is to arrive at generalizations with the help of observations. The hypothesis of the second study was that familial as well as social relations effect the behavior of the fire setter children to a large extent. The second study has taken into account a number of theories in order to validate its findings as well as its methods adopted. It has discussed a number of theories including crisis intervention discussed by Jones and Polak in the year 1968. It has taken into account the opinions of various researchers regarding issues like precipitant factors, role relations. The opinions and the theories have been incorporated at different sections of the study to justify every point taken in the study. In this study we see the absence of the facts and figures. It is explicitly dependant on theories and observations. The theoretical position which was taken in the study was that intervention in the family can remove the crisis situation for a fire setter child. Intervention in the family of a fire setter child increases the coping abilities of the child. In fact it can be said that intervention can be an effective means of treating a child with the difficulties of fire setting and also it can be a suitable way to treat the other difficulties that arise out of fire setting. Rather the process can be so effective that it can restore normalcy in the child. The theoretical position of the study has been well explained with the assistance of theories and the effectiveness has been established by carrying out the theory in practice. The emphasis of the second study can be said to be on the idealist method which tries to say that every explanation arises from the human mind and nothing is outside its purview. The study has been able to reach at its result without the aid of the positivist approach which gives emphasis on the quantitative methods. Generalization in the second study has been achieved by making a careful case study of a particular family and then validating all the observations and methods with the help of a number of theories and opinions. A very important thing that can be said about the second study is that it is true that it has taken an idealist approach but it has established its adopted theory with the help practical application thus we can say that there is obviously the involvement of the rule of science which is an essential definition of epistemology because according to the rule of science it is necessary that conclusions are arrived at after proper practical application and in this case we can say that the theory was established after applying it practically. Thus it has established a qualitative phenomenon with the help of quantitative phenomena which was essentially the practical implication of their knowledge on the family of JJ. ( Eisler, 1972). We have learnt in the beginning of the paper that epistemology involves development of a qualitative approach with the help of the quantitative methods. For instance the first study had adopted mathematical tools like the Annova analysis in order to arrive at a conclusion. Although we say that epistemological study involves arriving at a qualitative approach with the help of quantitative methods in case of the second study we see that there was neither any involvement of a qualitative approach nor did it involve any mathematical tools it only validated its theoretical position with the help of a practical application. Thus we can say that a research study adopts an epistemology that is most suitable to get its desired result and it is not necessary that a research has to progress in a stipulated manner. Epistemology generally involves the analysis of the content and in the present case we have seen that in both the studies the content have been analyzed with the help of both the methodologies that is the quantitative and the qualitative approach. The aim of both the studies was the same that is to establish a hypothesis though the hypotheses in both cases have been different. But the method and the ontology of both the studies have been different in the manner that one relied more on the positivist approach that is it adopted the path based on scientific analysis whereas the other relied more on the idealistic approach making it clear that both the epistemological approaches are equally successful in achieving its goal.    References 1. Eisler R, (1972), Crisis Intervention in the Family of a Firesetter, Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, Vol 9(1), Spr 1972, 76-79. 2. Jupp V, (2006), The Sage dictionary of social research methods, Pine Forge Press, USA. 3. Kolko D, Kazdin A and Meyer E, (1985), Aggression and Psychopathology in Childhood Firesetters: Parent and Child Reports, Journal of Consulting and Qinical Psychology, vol 53 (3) p377-85 4. Mc Nabb D, (2004), Research methods for political science: quantitative and qualitative methods, M.E. Sharpe, New York. 5. Munhall P, (2006), Nursing research: a qualitative perspective, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, USA. 6. Potter W, (1996), An analysis of thinking and research about qualitative methods, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Philadelphia. Read More