Literature Review On Epistemology

Positivism and interpretivism are two approaches of interpreting social reality, that each employ different methods of research and data collection to better help understand the study of human lived experiences. The positivist-interpretivist debate revolves around the ways in which human behavior should be conceptualized and studied (Pruss 1996: 4). Positivism is the most widely practiced research approach in social science, which regards the nature of social reality independent of consciousness. Positivists believe social reality can be studied independently from the researcher and that social life can be represented using numbers that according to positivists reveal features of social reality. On the other hand, interpretivists favor partipcant observation, interviews and social interaction where the researcher immerses into the informant’s reality to gain knowledge of their everyday human lived experiences.

Research methodology and methodological approaches that is, the structured process of conducting research and the overall concepts and theories which underpin research respectively (Bryman, 2008), occupy a central position in the research process as they are both shaped by and translate the researcher’s epistemological position. Epistemology then refers to a researcher’s philosophical stance about the nature, derivation and scope of knowledge (Gilbert, 2008). These positions are seldom ‘spelt out’ but rather understood in the matter of research methodology and approach (Sarantakos, 2005).

The aim of this essay is to carry out a research on why black people are more likely to be stop and search than a white or Asian. The assignment will be using literature explore the logic behind stop and search in the country and analyze the power police have when they are undertaking stop and search. This essay will be utilising the epistemology approach to find out the true about stop and search and determine limitation of knowledge. The essay going to be looking at ethical issues that would need to take into consider when carrying out a research on stop and search the reason why you need to have ethical consideration as researcher. This paper will be inspecting practical issue that are involve when performing a stop and search research project. The paper will be using quantitative method to measure how many people are affected by stop and search and who disagree with the power of the police. The quantitative method will give an overall statistic on how many people experience stops and search in

The positivism perspective is an extension to the empiricism view on knowledge that states that knowledge comes from induction and observable experiences and that this knowledge is used to explain social phenomena (Benton & Craib, 2011). Nevertheless, the empiric view of knowledge on which positivism is based has long been subject to limitations. Immanuel Kant noted for instance that knowledge does not only come from the senses but also from a basic pallet of conceptual knowledge we all have. Furthermore, the interpretation of observations can differ due to the different way everyone acquires concepts. The claims done by Staman and Slob (2012) mentioned earlier are analyzed below for using this perspective on science.

28). Every aspect of the research process is influenced by epistemology, it guides the researcher in justifying the research methods (Carter & Little, 2007; Kramer-Kile, 2012), as it is asking what is knowledge, and how can that knowledge be acquired.

Director Levitsky, I posit to you that we should restructure the epistemological foundations of U.S. counter-terrorism policy as it pertains to Salafi jihadism specifically, and Islamic terrorism broadly. I believe that we must fundamentally change our understanding what Islamic terror is if we are to have any hope of effectively opposing it. Current institutional dialectics and policy focus on the political and strategic aspirations of terrorist groups, as well as the tactical methods they employ to accomplish their goals. I suggest to you that existing counter terrorism polices are pursuing superficial material aims. We are attempting to destroy terrorist groups, institutions, and individuals. However the material structures of terrorism

There are two types of epistemology: Theoretical and Normative. Theoretical epistemology is the study of what evidence we truly have for whatever theories we actually hold. Normative epistemology is the study of how to adjust our theories in order most effectively to anticipate sensory stimulation. Kim argues that the field of study of epistemology should be narrative and therefore must assign conditions for justification and knowledge and must determine whether a belief is justified and whether a belief can be considered knowledge.

b) ESOP’s: Incentives that allow the employees to buy the share of the firm they are working at lower rates which creates the sense of ownership.

As we have discussed many times in class, an ethical issue is an issue that focuses on whether an action is morally right or wrong. Epistemic issues focus on how we know that certain facts are true or how we know what is possible. An example of an epistemic issue could be "how do we know that God is real?". This would be an epistemic question because it inquires about our knowledge and how we have come to that conclusion. An ethical issue could be, "how should we respond to humanitarian issues in foreign countries?". This can be considered an ethical issue because it asks what would be considered a moral decision in a certain situation.

Examine the advantages and disadvantages of using both positivist and interpretivist methods of research (20)

Talking about rationalism requires knowing first what is “Epistemology” or “theory of knowledge? Epistemology is a branch in philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge. Rationalism is an epistemological theory, so rationalism can be interpreted the distinct aspects or parts of the mind that are separate senses. The distinctive aspects can be identified as human abilities to engage in mathematics and intellectual reasoning. The knowledge the distinctive aspects provide is seen as separate from any exogenous factor. Two of the Philosophers who were rationalist were Plato and Descartes, whom I will tackle their view of rationalism in this paper. Philosophers who oppose rationalism are identified as “empiricist”, and their motto is that

Research paradigms are ‘the entire constellation of beliefs, values, techniques, and so on shared by members of a given community’ (Kuhn, 1970, p.175). The three most common paradigms are positivism, constructivism or interpretivism and pragmatism. Each of these can be categorised further by examining their: ontology, epistemology and methodology. Fundamentally, ontology is the nature of reality, epistemology describes the relationship the investigator has with their version of reality, and methodology is the various techniques and tools used to analysis their research.

The social science paradigm also known as Post positivism consists of testing hypothesis and research questions that are developed through reasoning. This is done through measurements and observation. Social scientists aspire to science and they seek to study human behaviour, interaction and thought in an organized way; which we can then measure, generalize and replicate. Like any research, post-positivism needs to be backed up by evidence. When a social science research sets out a research project, it is their goal to find evidence that can either agree or disagree with the hypothesis or theories. Post positivism, compared to positivism allows more interaction with the participants of the research project and seeks to highlight the relationship between universal properties between the variables. The best way to understand post positivism is by comparing it to positivism and the interpretive paradigm. Compared to positivism, post positivism is more tolerant for value-based information, however is not focused on qualitative information like the interpretive paradigm, instead the research is mainly focused on quantitative data.

Infosys provides strong property rights to its employees by providing employee stock option plans. Top management were given profit sharing plans based on the company performance as an incentives. ESOP’s usually guarantee long term employment. But later Infosys withdrew the stock options plan due to various complexities and accounting challenges.

Positivism is a rigorous and formal way to collect and analyze data that was developed around the 1960’s by Auguste Comte (1798-1857) who is also credited with formalizing it. Studies are clear and straight forward and researchers believe that there is only one method that all sciences should rely on. Positivism believes