Philosophy of Science Philosophy of Science Instructor: Julian Hasford Instructor: Julian Hasford Teaching Assistant: Keith Adamson Teaching Assistant: Keith Adamson PS398 Qualitative Methods in Psychology PS398 Qualitative Methods in Psychology January 13, 2009 January 13, 2009
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Philosophy of Science Instructor: Julian Hasford Teaching Assistant: Keith Adamson PS398 Qualitative Methods in Psychology January 13, 2009.
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Philosophy of SciencePhilosophy of Science
Instructor: Julian HasfordInstructor: Julian HasfordTeaching Assistant: Keith AdamsonTeaching Assistant: Keith Adamson
PS398 Qualitative Methods in PsychologyPS398 Qualitative Methods in PsychologyJanuary 13, 2009January 13, 2009
AGENDAAGENDA
• Glossary: Post-Modernism
• Review
• Lecture: Philosophy of Science
• Memoing Exercise
• Next Class…
LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES
• By the end of this session, you should be By the end of this session, you should be able to:able to:– Analyze the main components of qualitative
and quantitative research– Discuss the philosophical assumptions (and
logic) of various scientific paradigms– Analyze how philosophical paradigms
influence research method and substance– Articulate a personal stance
POST-MODERNISMPOST-MODERNISM
• DefinitionDefinition– Intellectual movement that challenges modernist
conceptions (“grand narratives”) of science, truth, and objectivity (Gergen, 2000; Patton, 2002)
– Language can not fully capture truth or reality (Crisis of Representation)
– Argues that truth is constructed through language, and language constructed through cultural processes (language games, consensus, power)
– Science is social constructed– Values multiple truths
POST-MODERNISMPOST-MODERNISM
• Methodological/Theoretical SignificanceMethodological/Theoretical Significance– Influential in social sciences and humanities
(Psychology slower to adopt than other disciplines) (Gergen, 2000)
– Research focuses on social construction of reality through language, symbols, metaphors, etc.
– Phenomena treated as text– Analysis through deconstruction (take apart text to
methodological orientations – Risk of extreme moral or epistemological
relativism, which can justify oppression or undermine value of all knowledge
POST-MODERNISMPOST-MODERNISM
• ExampleExample– Examines implications of post-modernism for the discipline of
work psychology– Work psychology dominated by positivism, excludes subjectivity
(Qualitative approaches still based on positivist understanding)– Limits what is known about work, limits reflexivity in psychology
research and practice– Postmodernists erode apparently self-evident meta-narratives
through: • Identifying particular ways of seeing and acting that a discourse
takes and excludes; • Analysing social processes that make it possible for such a
discourse to be historically constituted• Analysing how it is reconstituted into new discursive formations• Identifying the effects of such a discourse upon people.
POST-MODERNISMPOST-MODERNISM
• ExampleExample– Discipline and sub-disciplines of work psychology
seen as discourses that are constructed to define legitimate work psychology that exclude non-qualified members and restrict acceptable forms of knowledge
– Phenomena such as stress, personality, motivation not seen as real objects, but as linguistic constructs taken to be real and produced by discipline
• Examine how constructs stress come about (stressologists industry)
– Human Resource discourse found to reflect masculine regimes of rationality that exclude and suppress women as irrational (management selection tests based on masculine norms)
POST-MODERNISMPOST-MODERNISM
• ReferencesReferencesGergen, K. (2000). Psychology in postmodern context.
American Psychologist, 56(10), 803-813.
Johnson, P. & Cassell, C. (2001). Epistemology and work psychology: New agendas. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 74, 125-143
Randomization (Probability Sampling)Data Collection Qualitative Data
Personal Engagement (Researcher is Instrument)
Empathic Neutrality
Numerical Data
Objective
Analysis Unique-case orientation
Inductive
Holistic
Context
Reflexivity
Generalization
Hypothetico-Deductive
Verification
Context-free
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCEPHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
• What is philosophy of science?What is philosophy of science?– Conceptual roots undergirding the quest for
knowledge– Fundamental beliefs or assumptions about
• Ontology (the nature of reality and being)• Epistemology (the study of knowledge)• Axiology (the role of values in the research process) • Methodology (the process and procedures of research)• Rhetorical structure (the language of the research) and
presentation of the research)
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCEPHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
• Why think about philosophy of science?Why think about philosophy of science?– Increases clarity of research purpose– Enhances reflexivity – Broadens and deepens theoretical sensitivity– Increases quality and rigor
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCEPHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
• ScienceScience– Definition
• Systematic collection and analysis of data • Create knowledge and solve problems
– Empiricism
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCEPHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
• ParadigmsParadigms– Set of interrelated assumptions about the world which
provides a philosophical and conceptual framework for the organized study of that world (Filstead, 1979 in Patton, 2002)
– Major Paradigms• Reality-oriented• Social Constructionist • Critical-Ideological
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCEPHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE• Reality-oriented ParadigmsReality-oriented Paradigms
– Belief in external reality, where events result from underlying mechanisms or structures
– Objectivity is desirable– Goals are explanation, laws, prediction, control– Variations
• Positivism (Comte)– Real knowledge based on claims that are verifiable by direct experience
(mathematical formulas); distinguish “positive knowledge” (empirically based) from theology and metaphysics (based on fallible human reason and belief)
• Post-positivist (Popper)– Human ability to gain real knowledge is limited. Falsification over verification as
criteria for assessing claims• Realism
– Similar to post-positivism. Recognize subjectivity and takes pragmatic rather formalistic approach to research. No difference between qualitative and quantitative methods.
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCEPHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
• Social Constructionist ParadigmsSocial Constructionist Paradigms– Believe in multiple, equally valid realities
(subjective and socially constructed)– Goals are understanding lived experience
(verstehen)– Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCEPHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
• Critical ParadigmsCritical Paradigms- Believe that reality mediated by power
relations within social, historical contexts– Goals are emancipation and transformation
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCEPHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
• OntologyOntology– Focus
• Nature of being and reality• What can be known
– Paradigmatic• Positivism: One true external reality, operates by
universal laws, can be known with some certainty• Constructivism• Critical
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCEPHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
• EpistemologyEpistemology– Focus
• Theories of Knowledge (how we know, who can know)