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Where am I coming from?: Deciding on your epistemological and theoretical framework

Where am I coming from?: Deciding on your epistemological and theoretical framework. Dr Viv Burr. Epistemology. What you understand or assume about what we can know about the world and how we can know it (ie the method we can use to find out about it). Objectivity vs subjectivity.

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Where am I coming from?: Deciding on your epistemological and theoretical framework

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  1. Where am I coming from?: Deciding on your epistemological and theoretical framework Dr Viv Burr

  2. Epistemology What you understand or assume about what we can know about the world and how we can know it (ie the method we can use to find out about it).

  3. Objectivity vssubjectivity

  4. Objectivity Positivism Experiments Careful measurement Facts and truth How do people remember names? Is one way of dressing a wound better than another? Does smoking cause health problems?

  5. Subjectivity Subjective perceptions Interpretations of events How do people experience their health care? What is it like to look after a child with autism? How do people cope with divorce?

  6. Realism vsConstructivism or Constructionism

  7. Realism The nature of the world (including the social world) exists independent of us and our Interactions with each other. How many kinds of love are there? What is child abuse and how can it be prevented? What causes conflict in the workplace?

  8. Constructivism Phenomena are constructed Different people hold different constructions of events These change over time and place How do young people construct an identity for themselves? How do people make sense of major life events?

  9. Constructionism Focus on constructions of events at a societal level Focus on the ways people construct versions of events to suit different purposes How do discourses of motherhood affect how mothers see themselves? How do young women engage with sexualised representations in the media? How do people build accounts of themselves as ‘good’ people? How do people manage their identities in interactions?

  10. Realism Positivism (objective, facts, truth) Examples of theories: natural selection; evolution; global warming; filter theory. Methods: Experiments, Surveys, Observation, Interviews (but have to remain objective) Quantitative analyses.

  11. Constructivism Examples of theories: phenomenology (subjective, perceptions, interpretations); Personal Construct Psychology (PCP); Narrative Psychology; ethnomethodology. Methods: Qualitative methods such as PCP methods, diaries, interviews, narrative interviews.

  12. Constructionism Examples of theories: Symbolic Interactionism; Power/Knowledge (Foucault); Narrative Psychology; Speech Act Theory. Methods: Qualitative methods such as Interviews, textual analysis; Discourse analysis; Conversation analysis; critical narrative analysis.

  13. Any questions?

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