welcome to philosophy of science ingo böbel / hans mühlbacher

Welcome to

Philosophy of Science

Ingo Böbel / Hans Mühlbacher

Scientific Research

• What is science?

• Ontology & Epistemology

• Goals of scientific work

• Ways of producing new knowledge

Group work: What is Science ?20 Minutes

Please form 3 groups and discuss the following questions:

1. What is science (compared to practice)?

2. What is a scientific problem (compared to a practical problem)?

Please prepare your answers for a plenary presentation.

What is Science ?

Science may be conceptualized as

1. An institution = certain people and organizations

2. The activity of that institution

= systematic effort to create coherent knowledge

by applying specific methods

vs.

the search for truth about reality

3. The result of that activity= publications, conferences, consulting, ....

How is new scientific knowledge created ?

Structure of the Scientific Knowledge Production Processes

Ontology Assumptions about the nature of the experienced world (reality)

Epistemology Assumptions about our potential to recognize the real world (= nature of knowledge generated)

Selection of substantive (object- related) theory

Selection of philosophy of science approach

Research methods

Research results

e.g. Learning theory

vs.

Social network theory

vs.

Actor network theory

e.g. Empiricism vs. Realism vs. Constructivism

Axiology Assumptions about the goals of research

Ontologyis a metaphysical perspective concerning reality

What is the substantial nature of the world ?

Spiritualism vs Materialism there is only spiritual existence vs all existence is materiel

Idealism vs Realism we produce reality through perception vs reality exists independent of us

Determinism vs Indeterminism vs Voluntarism all natural phenomena follow strict laws vs with a certain probability vs there are phenomena depending on our will

Logical structure vs Symbolic structure of the world the world is logically structured vs we structure the world using symbols

Epistemology

= Assumptions about the capability of humans to recognize reality

Can we find out about the (real) world independent of subjective perceptions?

Realism - Skepticism - Constructionism - Solipsism

• Passive affection vs active construction

• Empiricism vs Rationalism Mind vs Speech (Sentences)

• Biologically inherited vs individually learned culturally agreed vs inter-subjectively approachable transmitted across generations

Level of involvement

Medium of knowledgecreation

Acquisition of knowledge creation potential

Goals of Research ?

• Discover

• Describe

• Understand

• Explain

• Predict

• Control

• Criticize

• Prescribe

• Self-emancipation

= Having a specific cognitive interest

Main Paradigms of the Social Sciences

• Positivism

• Realism

• Constructivism

• Pragmatism

are different

from each

other in

terms

of

Ontology (Assumptions about reality)

Epistemology (Assumptions about the relationship between reality and researcher)

Axiology(Assumptions about the goals of research)

Methods (Preferred methods to discover reality)

Group work: 30 minutesPlease form 3 groups.

Each group please focus on one of the following couples of paradigms:- positivism and critical rationalism - interpretative approach and critical realism- rationalism and critical theory.

Point out and compare the paradigms´ assumptions about- reality- a researcher´s capability to find out about reality- the goals of research- causality- the proper research process.

Naturalist Perspective

Ontological Assumptions

• There is one reality.

• Reality exists in a world independent of people.

• Reality is absolute, stable, independent of time.

Epistemological Assumptions

• The source of all human knowledge is empirical observation.

• We can detect regular conjunctions between phenomena in the

varying multitude of our observations.

• Such regularities are both a necessary and a sufficient condition for

causality.

• Scientific research produces general truth.

• Scientific knowledge is cumulative and absolute.

• Science is objective.• Scientific methods guarantee objectivity.• Knowledge develops in a way independent of the researcher.



Axiological Assumptions

Science serves the purpose of

- detecting reality

- explaining, forecasting and controlling phenomena in that reality.

Assumptions concerning the knowledge creation process:

• Distinction between facts and values: Values affect the choice of the research domain and the research problem. But measurement processes and data are free of values.

• Scientists observe, describe and explain the causes of given ends and the means for achieving them. But they do not help to choose ends or determine the desirability of ends.

• Measurement does not influence the research object/subject.


Assumptions concerning the research object:

• Individuals are independent.

• Individuals act in a rational purposive manner.

• Social processes are partly intended, partly unintended outcomes of

individuals´ purposive conduct.

Consequences for the selection of methods:

Research methods are mainly quantitative, manipulative/experimental.


Alternative Ways of Generating New Knowledge

A and B = Justification via

deduction

C = Discovery via Induction

Hypotheses Observations

Substantive domain

C1B1A2

C2

B2

Research design

Theory

B1

A1 A1

C1

A2C2 B2 Methodology

Deduction versus Induction

Deductive Logic: general -> specific

Critical questions ?

• How can science progress, when every new research builds on existing knowledge?• Do we run the danger of increasingly focalized knowledge?

• Are there other ways to describe reality than the ones known so far ?

• How can an „objective“ interpretation of data and results be secured?

• How to treat measurement error?

Key epistemological process of critical rationalists

Deduction versus Induction

Inductive Logic: specific -> general

Critical questions?

• Can we detect and interpret regularities without any theoretical basis?

• Are the choice of data gathering techniques and data gathered consequences

of a pre-existing but not explicitly acknowledged theory ?

• To what extent does the researcher influence the research object?

• How can the quality of inductively determined propositions be tested?

• Can propositions gained from a specific case be generalized?

Key epistemological process of empiricists

Abduction/Retroduction

Recursive Logic: from the specific via the general to the specific and back to the general

• Observation of a new (surprising) empirical phenomenon / that does not fit expectations / a problem arises

• Search for, selection and application of a theory (a rule of interpretation)

• Analysis of the phenomenon by the use of the interpretation rule / theory

• Extension/correction/specification of the theory (rule of interpretation) to end the surprise

Key epistemological process of critical realists

Differences Between Naturalist and Constructionist Paradigms

• There is one reality.

• Reality exists in a world independent of people.

• Reality is absolute, independent and stable, independent of time.

• There are many realities.

• Reality emerges through interactive

interpretation and enactment.

• Reality is relative, time dependent

and changing.

• Scientific reality is only one specific

form of socially constructed reality.

Ontological Assumptions

• The source of all human knowledge is empirical

observation.

• We can detect regular conjunctions between

phenomena in the varying multitude of our

observations.

• Such regularities are both a necessary and a

sufficient condition for causality.

• Scientific research produces generalizable truth.


• The source of human knowledge is interpretation.

• We can observe discourses and frames for the way people talk about a particular issue, and therefore, understand and act with respect to that issue.

• People (scientists) make sense of something.

• Truth is relative and is not generalizable.

• Scientific knowledge depends on situational and local contexts.

Epistemological Assumptions



• Science serves the purpose of - detecting reality - explaining, forecasting and controlling phenomena in that reality.

• Science serves the purpose of

- understanding how particular realities are socially constructed; i.e. enacted and interactively endowed with meaning;

- reconstructing those realities.

Axiological Assumptions

• Individuals are independent actors.

• Individuals act in a rational purposive manner.

• Social processes are partly intended, partly unintended, outcomes of individuals´ purposive conduct.

Assumptions Concerning the Research Object

Individuals interact and are embedded in processes of structuration.

There is always a relation between individuals and their context.

Individuals enact their situational realities and collaboratively endow them with meaning.

Social processes serve the purpose of interactive sense-making, enactment and structuration.


• Science is objective.

• Scientific research produces generalizable truth.


• Scientific methods guarantee objectivity.

• Knowledge develops in a way independent of the researcher.

• Science is subjective.

• Scientists use shared practices of interpretation.

• Scientific methods are bundles of rules for „proper work.“

• Knowledge and researchers are tightly related to each other.

Assumptions Concerning the Knowledge Generation Process


• Distinction between facts and values:

Values affect the choice of the research domain and the research problem.

But measurement and data are free of values.

• Scientists observe, describe and explain.

They do not help to choose ends or determine the desirability of ends.

• Measurement does not influence the research object/subject.

A distinction between facts and values is impossible:

Values affect the choice of the research domain and the research problem.

Measurement and data are value-ladden.

Scientists observe, describe and explain.

They are critical concerning inequalities in articulation and legitimation potentials. Measurement changes the observed phenomenon.


Assumptions Concerning the Knowledge Generation Process

Group Work: 20 minutes

Please form different groups than last time and discuss thefollowing question:

What are quality criteria- of scientific research ?- of theories ?

Quality Criteria of Scientific Research

Naturalists/realists strive for:

* A realistic research context

* Generalizability concerning people and situations

* Precision in measurement and control of most relevant

factors of influence

What is the problem?

There is no research design what so ever,

which can reach these goals simultaneously !

Quality Criteria of Scientific Research

Interpretive researchers strive for:

* A natural setting

* Empathy concerning people and their interpretations of contexts

* Detailed descriptions of the studied phenomenon including contextual and historical aspects

* Use of the language of people investigated

What is the problem?

There is no totally reliable way of understanding

the meanings others attribute to events!

• empirical validity• explanatory power• low number of conditional assumptions• many rigorous but failed falsification attempts

• usefulness for a purpose• social agreement

Quality of theories ?

Potential Solution ?

Triangulation • Different theoretical approaches, same method

• Same theoretical approach, different methods

• Different theoretical approaches, different methods

Combination of various theoretical approaches and methods

across several studies to counter-balance the different weaknesses

of each of the combinations.

Please form 3 groups in a way to create a different mix of members than

for the other group assignments.

Please answer the following questions :

Based on the central ideas of pragmatism,

1. What are the similarities of pragmatism with the other discussed approaches?

2. What are the specific differences to each of these approaches?

3. What advantages and disadvantages of pragmatism do you see?

Please prepare a summary statement.

Group work 30 minutes

• Aim: Explaining + predicting (instrumentalist) vs. understanding (representational) vs.

criticizing + being normative (political) vs. having a specific cognitive interest

(self-emancipation)• Reality: One reality (empirical “facts” we observe) vs. layers of reality vs. co-constructed reality

• Knowledge creation: induction vs. deduction vs. retroduction/abduction

• Objectivity: value laden vs. value free research vs. research reflecting its presuppositions

• Research unit: methodological individualism vs. methodological holism vs. both

• Explanations: functional vs. intentional vs. self-referential

• Causality: scientific laws vs. underlying mechanisms (“semi-regularities”) vs. sense-making

• Methodology: Unified across all sciences vs. unified across social sciences vs. situational

depending on nature of research object and cognitive interest of researcher

• Quality of theories: empirical validity vs. explanatory power vs. usefulness/agreement vs.

successful consequences (change the way of thinking)

Some Important Differences in the Approaches

Structure of the Scientific Knowledge Production Processes

Ontology Assumptions about the nature of the experienced world (reality)

Epistemology Assumptions about our potential to recognize the real world (= nature of knowledge generated)

Selection of substantive (object- related) theory

Selection of philosophy of science approach

Research methods

Research results

Axiology Assumptions about the goals of research

Group work: 30 minutes Please form 3 new groups and discuss the following question:

What are the consequences of the differences in ontology, epistemology and axiology of

- naturalism - constructivism

- pragmatism for the selected research approach in terms of

- chosen research objects and - research methods used?

Take an example to illustrate.

• Mainly quantitative

manipulative/

experimental

• Individualistic

• Mainly qualitative

hermeneutic/dialectic/

interpretative

• Individualistic or social

Research Methods Used

Both

Both

Both

Naturalism Constructionism/Constructivism Pragmatism

Different Approaches to a Research Domain and their Effects

Example of research domain: Strategy development

Approach of a Naturalist:

• Research object: Organizational process (steps, duration) and its result (strategy as a formulated document leading to

coordinated action)

• Research interest: What are the factors of influence on the effectiveness of the process and the process outcomes? How can the process and the outcome be

improved?

• Research subjects: participating individuals (hierarchical level, intensity of participation, satisfaction with process and

outcome,...)

• Measurement: production of quantitative data by individual interviews (scales), protocols, deductive content analysis

-> modeling



Approach of a Constructionist:• Research object: Strategy as sense giving and sense making process;

strategy as social practice

• Research interest: How does the ongoing “strategy”-discourse evolve (participants, roles,

initiatives,..)? How do shared meanings, roles of

participants, rituals, objectifications develop over time?

• Research subjects: participating individuals as members of as social entity

• Measurement: production of qualitative data by narrative interviews, observation, inductive content analysis

-> reconstruction of strategy-related reality construction



• What would be the approach of a pragmatist?

Guidance for systematic combined research

- Two-studies designs

sequential (aim: preparation of other study or explanation of findings)

concurrent (cross-validation of findings)

- Integrated designs integrated elaboration (qualitative analysis of quantitative data)integrated generalization (quantitative analysis of qualitative

data)

Pragmatic Research Approaches

Rigor in qualitative versus quantitative research?

• Reliability (internal consistency of tool, replicability of measures)

• Validity (construct, external, nomological, generalizability of results)

Vs.

• Precision

• Credibility (triangulation of investigator, methods and data)

• Transferability

Incommensurability of research paradigms?

philosophical problems vs practical benefits

Pragmatic Research Approaches

Important Hints for your Doctoral Work:

Clearly indicate and defend why you have selected a certain

theory and a specific method /combination of methods

• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of potential

approaches

• Show that you are aware of the weaknesses of your approach

• But show the advantages of your approach (conscious choice) and

why the weaknesses appear to be acceptable

Individual Homework:

What do you learn for your doctoral project from what has been discussed so far?

How does your problem formulation change if you change the selected philosophy of science approach?

welcome to philosophy of science ingo böbel / hans mühlbacher

Documents

reality slide

perception vs reality

inherited vs

vs inter

structured vs

goals of research slide

new knowledge slide

spiritual existence