Epistemology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Epistemology - Essay Example First and foremost, this paper also deals with how theories are studied so that people may interpret and understand information, and develop them to form their own research studies. This is known as hermeneutics, and phenomenology would refer to how individuals study the philosophies of the world and what exactly it means to them. For this study, it is important to understand that without these theories, human beings would be lost when it comes to how they understand the world. Knowledge has to come from somewhere and this is illustrated in this paper through the mention of various research methodologies and approaches, dispositions and cognitive theories. As the study declares qualitative and quantitative approaches are two main approaches when it comes to research methodology. At this point it is important to first understand both qualitative and quantitative approaches in order to understand how research studies are brought about, as well as the epistemology and ontology approaches when it comes to research work. In a qualitative study, the researcher is not so interested in obtaining a set of facts, but rather is more interested in gaining insight into a perspective (Johnson, 1984). The philosophy of the qualitative approach is that knowledge and facts are subjective and that problems cannot be fully understood in isolation. In this light, should problems arise, they should be viewed as part of a complex pattern of links and relationships.