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

Gopinath, Deepak

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.

Citation

Gopinath, D. (2015). Shifting of the ontological-epistemological balance in contemporary research agendas: A critique. Quality and Quantity, 49(5), 1873-1882

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 1, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jul 25, 2014
• Publication Date: Sep 30, 2015
• Journal: Quality and Quantity
• Print ISSN: 0033-5177
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 49
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1873-1882
• Keywords: research methodology, epistemology, ontology, local space, local actors, public policy