Philosophy of Research ZAIN ULLAH KHATTAK PMAS ARID AGRICULTURE UNIVERSITY RAWALPINDI-PAKISTAN

 ALL SUBJECTS AND RESEARCH DEPENDS ON PHILOSOPHY Philosophy “ The Mother of all sciences ” 1

Questions Of Philosophy  WHAT IS TRUE?  WHAT IS REAL?  WHAT IS VALUE? 2

Basic Principles of “Research Design” Four main features of research design, which are distinct, but closely related  Ontology: How you, the researcher, view the world and the assumptions that you make about the nature of the world and of reality  Epistemology: The assumptions that you make about the best way of investigating the world and about reality  Methodology: The way that you group together your research techniques to make a coherent picture  Methods and techniques: What you actually do in order to collect your data and carry out your investigations 3

Deductive Reasoning  Deductive Reasoning : A type of logic in which one goes from a general statement to a specific instance.  The classic example:- All men are mortal. (major premise) Ali is a man (minor premise) Therefore, Ali is mortal. (conclusion) The above is an example of a Deductive Argument. Deductive reasoning results in qualitative research. 4

Deductive Reasoning Examples: 1. All students eat pizza. Ahmad is a student. Therefore, Ahmad eats pizza. 2. All athletes work out in the gym. Ali is an athlete. Therefore, Ali works out in the gym. 5

Inductive Reasoning Inductive Reasoning involves going from a series of specific cases to a general statement. The conclusion in an inductive argument is never guaranteed. Example: What is the next number in the sequence 6, 13, 20, 27,… There are more than one correct answers. Inductive reasoning results in quantitative research 6

Epistemology  The study of the origin, nature, methods, and limits of knowledge  How do we know?  What do we know?  How do we know that what we know is what we know?  How do we learn through education, through sport, through play? 7

Axiology  The study of values: Aesthetics & ethics  What do we value?  What is beautiful? Ugly?  Why do we cheat?  What is of value of education?  What is of value of exercise & fitness? 8

Logic  The study of the nature of exact thought  seldom studied in the sport world but methods are used in analysis  induction: particulars to general  deduction: general to particular  syllogism: if p = q & q =r then p = r. 9

Examples of Schools of Philosophy:  Idealism: world of the mind  Realism: world of nature & science  Pragmatism: world of experience  Existentialism: world of existing 10

Methodologies  Speculation: Ponders (The Most Difficult)  Normative: systematic, coherent plan-stated position  Analytical: analyze, clarify, linguistic analysis does not take sides. 11

Research  ‘Re’ means again and again  ‘Search’ means to find  So ‘Research’ is a process of investigation, systematic way of finding again and again. 12

Philosophical Foundations  Positivism  Normativism  Pragmatism  Empiricism  Realism 13

Normativism  A collection of philosophies – emphasizes that knowledge of the goodness or badness of conditions, situations, and actions is necessary to produce prescriptive knowledge (what “ought “ to be done).  Normativistic knowledge in economic research emphasizes people’s values, efficiency, welfare, income, standard of living, quality of life.  Intrinsic values (good and bad) are considered knowable. 14

Empiricism  Empiricism goes beyond this in subjecting measurement results to testing. Collecting of social and economic data led to statistical methods of analysis, including estimation techniques. 15

Pragmatism  Mainly focused on prescriptive knowledge (what ought to be) and emphasize problem solving.  Believes that positivistic value-free knowledge and normativistic value knowledge to be interdependent.  “Workability” (appropriateness for the problem at hand) is the central pragmatic criterion for judgment. 16

17  Pragmatism plays the greatest role in problem-solving research, less in subject-matter research and the least in disciplinary research.  U.S educational and political systems are dominated by the philosophy of pragmatism, which stress problem-solving and workability (achieving results).

Thank You For further information please, feel free to contact at or Visit us at