What do you understand by the term epistemology How can different Essay

What do you understand by the term epistemology How can different epistemological understandings influence choice of research method - Essay Example Epistemology seeks to explore or evaluate how knowledge is acquired, how much knowledge is understood, and knowledge is constructed within the realms of human mind. Epistemology tries to explain the relationship between depth of human understanding about a particular subject and the reliability of that understanding. It seeks to answer the question how what is known can be measured. Research aims at analyzing objects of nature in order to come up with a helpful conclusion. The researcher is thus at the discretion of using personal beliefs, understanding, and justification to influence the outcome of the research findings. A report by University of Oulu claims that the researcher is in a position to â€Å"influence directly only the epistemological basis of the research, not the evaluator’s bias, but of course clear criteria stated by the researcher makes it more valid for the reader to evaluate the trustworthiness of the research† (University of Oulu, 2003, p. 1). Seale echoes the same sentiments â€Å"it is true that certain epistemological and theoretical positions have influenced the character of both quantitative and qualitative research† (Seale, 2004 p. 506). Truthfulness of research is very important especially in the field of public health. For instance, I intend to use Quantitative analysis for my dissertation that aims at investigating public’s awareness of thalassemia syndromes in Jordans Capital – Amman. The study will collect information in form of questionnaires. Certainly, the questionnaires will be a reflection of my epistemological foundation. The questions will be formulated based on understanding of the topic. Although a lot of work on literature review will be done, interpretation of the literature work will depend on two main factors. First, it will depend on the line of thought of authors of the literature that I will review. Secondly, it will depend on my own interpretation of the literature work, which in turn will depend on personal