Knowledge Claims
Knowledge issues emerge from knowledge claims. These are claims about what we know. Researchers examine the knowledge claims about social world (Crotty 2003). They are of an ontological nature (the reality and character of things) and epistemological nature (how the knower discovers the knowledge about the reality).
Ontology and epistemology
Before researchers embark on their journey to explore social phenomena, they need to clarify what their ontological and epistemological stances are. Just as every project has its start and finish, so does academic research. The first stage of academic research is for inquirers to ask a research question, answers for which will be learnt using proper research methods. Researchers can go about answering the research question quantitatively, qualitatively or utilizing mixed methods. It is believed that while undertaking academic research, ontologies and epistemologies, also called paradigms, must be defined separately from research methods, although these constituents are interlaced and they shape each other (Crotty 2003; Guba and Lincoln 1994; Poetschke 2003; Scotland 2012; Grix 2002).
The word ontology is derived from two Greek words meaning being and word. Ontology deals with the world and the question whether the reality exists regardless of our knowledge about it or not. There are two contrasting philosophical traditions: positivism looking at reality as being real, true and concrete and interpretivism looking at the world as socially constructed. While positivist ontology is the one of realism, interpretivist ontology refers to relativism. The proponents of the first view acknowledge objects existing without our knowledge about them whereas advocates of the latter view believe that the social phenomena can be understood only through the window of individuals (Crotty 2003; Scotland 2012). Investigators’