Ontology and Epistemology 9—21
“very different perceptions of what constitutes reality can exist. all research necessarily starts from a person’s view of the world, which itself is shaped by the experience one brings to the research process.
It is clear that choosing one of these epistemological positions will lead one to employ a different methodology than one would otherwise, were one to choose the other. It is also clear to see how a researcher’s ontological and epistemological positions can lead to different views of the same social phenomena. Grix p.178
‘ontology logically precedes epistemology which logically precedes methodology…methodology logically precedes research methods, which logically precede data sources.
Methodology is concerned with the logic of scientific inquiry; Methodology is logically linked to, and very often confused with, the research methods employed in a project (see also Blaxter et al., 1997, p. 59). Methods: techniques or procedures used to collate and analyze data’ (Blaikie, 2000, p. 8).
social capital—bi-product of trust relations between people in groups. Generally speaking, the higher the stocks of social capital in society, the more democratic that society is likely to be (Grix, 2001b, p. 189).
foundationalist ontology (the world exists independent of our knowledge of it)
‘interpretivist’ approach – that is, one that emphasises the role of both agents and structures – is the opposite of the agent-centred approach outlined above.