Shifting of the ontological-epistemological balance in contemporary research agendas: a critique

Deepak Gopinath ()

Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, 2015, vol. 49, issue 5, 1873-1882

Abstract: With greater calls for public involvement, there are now claims of methodological shifts to ‘bottom-up’, ‘politically informed’ and ‘boundary-less’ approaches. This is not accurate as there is still predominantly an emphasis on epistemological considerations (for instance, in how knowledge of ‘issues’ being investigated are created and/or discovered)—seen through various community engagement forums and/or transfer of resources to local actors. However, the ontological (concerned with problem definition, ‘what is actually the issue being investigated’, ‘what do I/we think about it’) is not effectively conceptualised and understood in the local space by local actors. Thus, in order for actual shifts to ‘bottom-up’, ‘politically informed’ and ‘boundary less’ approaches to take place, mechanisms to shape the ontology of the research problem must be facilitated in local spaces. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Keywords: Research methodology; Epistemology; Ontology; Local space; Local actors; Public policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1007/s11135-014-0079-7

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