RESEARCH

PHILOSOPHY AND RESEARCH

The word philosophy, a basically Greek word, consists of two morphemes, namely, philo (love), and sophy (wisdom). Hence, love of wisdom is another way of saying philosophy. Philosophy, by definition, is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions about topics such as language, mind, reason, persuasion, love, power, existence, beauty, knowledge, and value.  It is a rational and critical mental investigation that reflects on its own methods and assumptions. Historically, many of the individual sciences, like chemistry, physics, psychology, and linguistics, formed part of philosophy. Major branches of philosophy are epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics.

Epistemology studies what knowledge is and how to acquire it. Epistemology is mostly compared with Ontology in research studies. Ontology is the philosophical study of being.

The first three philosophers in the Western tradition were all cosmologists from Miletus, and Thales was the very first, followed by Anaximander, who was followed in turn by Anaximenes. Socrates is the founding father of Western philosophy. Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher whose writings cover a broad range of subjects such as philosophy, natural sciences, art, linguistics, economics, psychology, and politics. Among his many works, The ART of PERSUASION is worthy to be discussed this context.

Qualitative and Quantitative Research

Science advances understanding and knowledge, creates new knowledge, changes situations and conditions for the better, and helps people embrace change.We all know that the traditional model of a principal investigator (PI) or scientist who manages and directs a long-term research grant for a specific projectno longer exists. This is because technology has created a level playing field. Moreover, the era of individual research has passed, and collaborative and competitive research has proven to be of great value. Technical and logistical planning is necessary. There is training for doing research.

There are two types of research, namely, qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative research is a method for understanding the meaning of phenomena (actions, decisions, beliefs, values, etc.). Denzin and Lincoln are immersed in their own social world. Things have meaning, significance, definition, metaphor, symbol, and description. The use of different data collection methods in qualitative research is intriguing. The nature of this type of research is open-ended. Good research can provide insights that more information cannot. It is a way of discovering and understanding the meaning of social or human problemsand behaviors of a person or group. Good science helps us understand the world we live in. The goal of qualitative research is to develop ideas that help us understand social phenomena in their natural contexts, and to give due consideration to the meanings, knowledge, and feelings of all participants.

Good science answers the question of why people do what they do. How are opinions formed? How do events around themaffect people? How is leadership exercised? Is there a way to control the outcome. Quantitative research help researchers predict and explain the relationship questions in measurement results. They control phenomena. The goal of most quantitative research is to determine the relationship between one thing and another. The dependency oroutcome varies between people. In fact. The process of testing objective theories involves examining the relationship between variables. These are all things.These changes can be measured on the instrument. Data analysis and using related statistical methods may lead to testifying a theory. The connection between measurement and quantitative research is intrinsic. There are two main types of correlation: empirical analysis and mathematical analysis. Statistics are used to help researchers analyze data. There are experimental design and non-experimental design. Statistical Methods for Social Sciences (SPSS) is an important tool (software) for analyzing the content of quantitative data. As researchers we ought to learn some skills of using SPSS.

Quantitative Data Analysis as compared to Qualitative Data Analysis

 

What is Quantitative Analysis?

Quantitative analysis is a research method that involves the systematic collection and interpretation of numerical data to draw conclusions, make predictions, or test hypotheses. It seeks to provide quantifiable answers to research questions.