Research Foundations Module 2

Front 1

Epistemology

Back 1

“theory of knowledge and its justification.” Involves studying knowledge itself — including its nature, process of generation, how it is necessary, and the standards that are used to judge its adequacy.

Front 2

Empiricism

Back 2

idea that all knowledge comes from experience

Front 3

Empirical Statement

Back 3

a statement based on observation, experiment, or experience

Front 4

Reasoning/Rationalism

Back 4

philosophical idea that reason is the primary source of knowledge

Front 5

Deductive Reasoning

Back 5

process of drawing a conclusion that is essentially true if the underlying premises are true

Front 6

Inductive Reasoning

Back 6

holds that the foundational premises act as helpful, but not decisive reasons towards acceptance of a conclusion

Front 7

Probabilistic

Back 7

stating what is probable to occur, not what will necessarily occur, thereby opening himself or herself up to a risk of being wrong

Front 8

Problem of Induction

Back 8

the future might not resemble the past

Front 9

Exploratory/Inductive Method

Back 9

3 Major Steps:

1. Observations, Data

2. Patterns, Descriptions

3. Theory

Front 10

Parsimonious

Back 10

simple, concise, and succinct

Front 11

Principle of Evidence

Back 11

strong evidence rather than proof is all that is obtained because researchers always leave open the possibility that future researchers will come up with new theories and new conclusions