Epistemology, Ontology, and Axiology in Research 

NOTE: The point on Ontology @3:45 should start with a bullet that says something along the lines of "Ontology is the branch of philosophy that studies 'existence' and the nature of 'being'" before I narrowed in on our existence as human beings. I'm in the field of Communication and we study human beings. My bias for asking researching questions about human existence showed through on that point (and in other places in the video). A more purely philosophical video about these terms would have discussed Ontology in a more general and patient sense with more depth and detail before moving to a focus on human existence. But, once videos are posted, you can't change what you said. So, please take note of this important omission.

This is great! I’m currently writing my dissertation and find that academic explanations of these theories are way too complicated to fully understand. I’m sending this video to my friends!

Your 8 minute video made more sense than the 400+ pg book sitting in front of me. Thank you

I wasted my time with so many videos with complex examples, thanks for this

Thank you

Ontology is studying being, not just a human being. Defining it just through human experiences seems to reveal some unnecessary philosophical commitments.

Epistemology: Branch of philosophy that studies knowledge (how do we know what we know)… knowledge is relative/ social construction… whatever we treat as knowledge is knowledge. Knowledge is out there waiting to be discovered. Ontology: studies nature of human beings (who are we, nature of our existence), do we make real free will choices. Are external forces “controlling” our outcomes? Are we better as individuals or groups? Axiology: studies values (what do we value , what values or outcomes will result from our research? All three help us appreciate research in different ways

Thank you

YES! Thank you. Proof that not everyone can teach something abstract while others have a gift to.

All epistemological views are true though and one view doesn't cancel out the other... it's just another way of getting to the truth... For example God can claim knowledge is out there waiting to be discovered People develop knowledge based on how far we have evolved intellectually-that truth for us is the current truth, a step further into the full exposure of truth, All knowledge (truth) is therefore relative. ...I never studied philosophy I'm just going on a whim by what I'm trying to understand from this vid.

Our human brains will always be constrained by its capacities or lack thereof. We can never prove what we claim we to know or value. Yet we have these complex ideas and systems to analyze the metaphysical world and apply the abstract to reality. What a wild ride living is. Thanks for the insights!

Thank u so much for this wonderful contribution to my knowledge..huge respect

One thing I will admit that is hard when it comes to Philosophy is the way people look at you when you ask these types of questions. Well, at least in my own experience. I learned the hard way when it came to asking these questions around people who didn't really care for Philosophy. Most of them always told me, "The world is what it is. There's no need for Philosophy. Good and Evil? They just existed. Why are we here? We just are. So deal with it." These type of answers always drove me insane because it felt like I couldn't find anyone with the same questions that were floating in my head. This video helped me by showing me I'm not the only one out there with these kinds of questions! :)

Thank you for the fantastic video. I'm a film and media undergraduate student and this is the best explanation I've heard of these notions that keep being referred to but no one really has a grasp of...

The Best Description of those confusing philosophical assumptions. Thank you Sir.

hello sir , I want to ask you which research assumption should you adopt.

Hmm, so educating! I've watched many tutorials but it's here I've seen the relevance of these terminologies for my research. But pls, is there a limit to these number of philosophies...? I was trying to understand positivism, interpretivism, pragmatism and realism; then I come across another set like constructivism, postpositivism, modernism, etc. Then I become confused!

This was phenomenal. I will use with my students for sure

A great expose of the three philosophies that demystifies each one of them and shows how each is linked to research. Academics need to do this more so that they do not alienate themselves from the very subjects for whom research is conducted in the first place. Well done. Will definitely refer my PhD and Masters students to this site.

At first glance I thought it said epistemology, ontology and anxiology... That tells you where I'm at with all this 😆

Thank you for this video. It is really helpful. My discipline is cross-trans-multi-discipline and it can get confusing when I have to refer to different disciplines as I study. I have a strange ask to make: I would have appreciated clearer examples to tie up what you are explaining so that I could then follow more closely. I am a visual/ literal person and I struggle to grasp things if I am not able to see them. Example: the example that you give about ways of getting knowledge -the statistics on climate change etc. What assumption does it make the approach to the study? I feel 'hung' somehow. I apologize for asking such an 'obvious' question but, the struggle is real for me in this area. I do, however, appreciate that you made a lot of reference to ethnography and it made it easier to substitute my research into your examples. Thank you

Well done! I wish society knew about these underlying philosophical assumptions they make. How much better political arguments - and silly, petty day-to-day arguments - would carry on!

Anthology, phenomenology, chronology :) thanks for the axiology.

Excellent video! Now I understand Epistemology and Ontology ... Axiology was a bonus! Thanks a ton!

aha moment; a new tool for the utilizing! I need to look more at the subtlety involved but, a 'puzzle piece' has definitely been brought into clearer view. Elucidating! Thanks! (Edited for clarity)

My academic friends have academic parties. Does this mean i can't shave myself? Get it?

Thanks for sharing this :) One of the most down-to-earth explanations of these abstract terms!

Thank you for a very educative talk. Stay blessed.

Thanks for the forecast! Just a quick off-topic question: I have a SafePal wallet with USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (air carpet target dish off jeans toilet sweet piano spoil fruit essay). What's the best way to send them to Binance?

Superb video. Very clear and concise. Thank you very much!

That was funny as hell! I'm gonna bring this up at a party and talk about the Bible right after! YEEEESSSSSSSS!

This video just saved my life.

Wow, awesome. Explanation totally down to earth. Thank you sir, finally, understanding these terms are the best take away. Love from Malaysia.

My philosophical (epistemological, ontological and axiological) position. 1 Is knowledge out there? Knowledge is a biological phenomenon. A concept only exists in the form of a description. No describer, no description; no conceiver, no concept; just stuff out there that can potentially be conceptualised and classified in infinite, perhaps conflicting, ways. 2 Do people develop knowledge based on perceptions and experiences? Yes. And those experiences include thinking. 3 Is all knowledge merely a social construct? No. A human is born with some knowledge (such as not to walk off the edge of a cliff) and acquires other knowledge through a mix of experiences - both personal and social. 4 Do we have free will, or are we machines? The universe is deterministic, organisms are machines. But that leads intelligent social animals to conclude we best live our lives as though we have free will. Crimes must be punished. Hard work should be rewarded. 5 Are we best understood as individuals or social animals? Both views are needed, and which is best depends on the question you are asking. 6 What do we value? We value many things, and continually make trade offs between the costs and benefits of different options..

Very clear and nice explanations.Thank you

These three points, epistemology, ontology and axiology, is that always there on the research? One research SHOULD have epistemology, ontology and axiology aspect on it? Thankyou for the video. Nice introduction haha.

I just watched this my wife who needed to see it for her Ph.D program that starts tomorrow. I was a philosophy major in college so I thought "great, I took multiple courses on epistemology and ontology. I can help her with these concepts." Then I watched it. And I had to cover my face as the video explains what epistemology means... but instead talks about concepts in philosophy of science and ontology of truth. There was a reference to neo-Kuneon philosophy in there. That isn't epistemology. Epistemology is how you map truth onto knowledge, not the meaning of truth or what things exist. The philosophy of what things exist is explicitly the definition of ontology. Given that it was describing ontology concepts and calling them epistemology I didn't have high hopes for its definition of ontology. And I was correct. What it calls ontology is more like existentialism. I suppose to some degree it is related to ontological questions in existentialism... somewhat. But it is FAR from what ontology as a general field of study actually means. I never studied axiology. Hadn't heard the word before. I generally avoided that area of philosophy for the most part. But given how wrong the other two terms were, I don't have much confidence in the definition given for that one either. I told my wife that she should learn these terms as defined here and as used in her field of study because that's what she needs to know. But I also told her not to be surprised if she uses them in front of someone who studied philosophy and they look at her like she has 3 heads because apparently this field of study is using these terms completely differently from what they mean in philosophy. I totally get why these concepts are useful in this field. But I would REALLY prefer that you use the correct terms. Instead of epistemology, that concept is ontology. And instead of ontology, that concept is existentialism. And axiology... I'm not sure if that's right or not.

Too often we confuse 'purpose' for 'imperative.' Evolution does not occur thanks to purpose; it occurs thanks to imperative!

Ontology is just the nature of things at patterns in a mind which may or may not have an external referent that may or may not be shared. Epistemology must be divided into meta-epistemology (the nature of knowledge, truth, certainty, etc.) and the technically specific areas, logic, statistics, game theory, cognitive biases, logical fallacies, Bayesian reasoning, etc.

How rationalism and Plato's Forms is not complete conjectured bullshit is beyond me

The question sir is that in order should these branches of philosophy be studied?

The i-robot example was teleological as well.

Ontology and Epistemology were hard nuts for me to crack but now i eat and digest them easily ✌️

Thank you for the clue. Atleast, I know where is what, what is where ❤, 🙏🇿🇦.

just started my online class and on the 2nd day we have presentation on this:(

this is an excellent lecture. thank you

Maybe my question is going to sound silly, but I am not understanding what mean these philosophies. In the books, they just explain each term, but I am not understanding how it actually works in practice. Research is a mix of these assumptions or it must follow one?? So, in my reseach methodology can I address more than one of these perspectives?

Is " the importance of philosophy in the modern times " epistemology or axiology ? Help me guys .. please

The presenter skipped 'methodology' and 'paradigm' probably on the assumption that they were obvious, for they would largely depend on the epistemological and ontological stand taken basing on the particular philosophical perspective selected. I commend the presenter.

I don't really know anything about philosophy, but my curiosity was piqued when I came across the word "axiology". Thank you for explaining this in a comprehensive way! i found Epistemology pretty interesting too!

Bold of you to assume I have friends

0:08 I'll personally make sure they don't get to see another day if they use those words in front of me.

Based and needed. Thank you :-)

Great video. Thanks!

Love the warning. Sound like a promise.

What is the difference between objective and subjective?

You should be understanding people in context to how GOD JESUS created them to be, judge with the VALUES and NATURAL LAW that is from HIM and how it applies to us and what consequence it brings to ourselves and others.THAT is the ONLY WISDOM that which we can derive from GOD's word!

read 500 pages, here I am 9 min later i understand them, thanks Dr.!

Hello I would like to know as I am writing my dissertation and focusing on diversity management in UK higher education. Therefore I try to find out what are students experiences of discrimination and how are Equality and diversity policies implemented in our uni , using online questionnaires. I used also interviews to interview the Equality and Diversity office in our uni to find out how they implement their policies and handle racial/ethnic discrimination in our uni. Therefore my supervisor told me that in my case I am using all three however how do I related ontology and axiology to mine. How am I suppose to talk about these three in my writing

Ive read so much, been to classes and watched videos to rty and get my head around this, but this video actually made it make sense! thank you!

Axiology?! Hm - van Halen, or, does it date back to Hendrix...

You're going to the wrong parties, brah.

Ontological sounds very similar to existentialism in some respects

Cool at a party

I'm bringing this up at a party. I have tons of experience killing the mood at a party, it won't bother me. :)

So, that is why my social life has died lol

4:30 what? It's an OLD movie? Fuuuuuuuk, I thought it was newer, it must be me that's old.

8 min video to basically read out loud what is written on Saunders book. Anyway thanx

Thank you. This helped a lot.

Hello sir, may I know your book reference for epistomology, ontology and axiology philosophy? Is it case studies in courageous communication?

Wow! Very enlightening for anyone, particulary Ethiopians, under era of political ignorance.

Getting clearer. After nature of reality, measure of reality and now value. What do we value and what's our value? Interesting

Well OK. I wish I hadn’t submitted my entire dissertation today before I listened to this… oh well.

Great

Love from India... Amazingly Explained..😍

BONJOUR GRANDPA FRETTAS = REMEMBER IT WAS RAINING THE DAY OF MY FINARAL = YOUR BIOLOGY CIRCLE GRANDPA ..UP AND DWON TO ESRTH POWERS

Thank you so much for this video! It literally just simplified the terms

Great breakdown!

I'd be more social if there was a guarantee of these kinda subjects being discussed at parties aye 😐

"Warning: please don't use in parties" 21st Century everyone

Great explanation

this video helped me to avoid my confusion on these three philosophical assumptions

Best if you could cite Saunders in your video ❤️.

Exceptional! Thanks for the post. Very helpful in understanding these abstract terminologies.

helpful examples and explanations , thank you

Thank you ✨🙏🏻

Thank you for your sharing knowledge

Thumbs up for the warning.

This is deep. This is clear. This is interesting!!!

thank you

Very helpful, but can't believe you referenced Will Smith the idiot actor instead of Issac Asimov the brilliant writer for I, Robot. That really offends my sense of Axiology! Haha

Really well-explained. Thanks!

If you ask an economist (aka someone with a Ph.D. in Economics) why mathematics and statistics are so much in the realm of the (mainstream) economics, they will tell you that economics is the only social science that uses clear assumptions based on an axiomatic system. The result of this is that if any 2 people are arguing about whether the government should do policy A or policy B to arrive at some expected result, they have clear assumptions to prove their hypothesis whereas in other fields as law (for example) they use some kind of "judgment" or "opinion" that they say is based on research, but the essence of their field is not based at the so-called axiomatic system where you can follow logically to prove your hypothesis. My question is: how Epistemology, Ontology, and Axiology can enlighten me to understand better why they think they are doing it better than in other fields in terms of analyzing how things work?

Precise

Thanks

Heidegger's philosophical position is entirely different. He didn't place human subjectivity/man at the centre of anything. It isn't anthropocentric. His principle concern IS being - ontology.

You just helped me with my PHD, cheers. In regards to the bible what type of philosophy would be taking the bibles parables at face value, and what theory would be viewing the bibles stories as a deeper and more archetypal lesson.

That's why I don't socialize that much, I'd rather go to a philosophy lecture on a friday night...

You are amazing! All because of you, now I can solve this puzzle of philosophical perspectives available for research. A big thanks to you.

Excellent! Thank you!