Knowledge Paradigms and Ethics Flashcards
What is knowledge?
Justified true belief; a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences.
Tacit vs. Explicit Knowledge
Tacit knowledge is informal, uncodified, and often embedded in personal experiences. Explicit knowledge is formal, codified, and contained in documents, databases, and other repositories.
Prescriptive/Normative Knowledge
Guiding knowledge with advice, instructions, models, methods, tools, and checklists about phenomena.
Evaluation/Value Knowledge
Knowledge about the desirable, focusing on goals, values, preferences, and visions.
Explanation/Declarative Knowledge
Explains why phenomena are a certain way, including cause-effect relationships and teleological explanations.
Categorical/Descriptive Knowledge
Fundamental knowledge focusing on conceptualizing the world in terms of categories, concepts, and relations.
Natural Science vs. Social Science
Natural Science focuses on the physical world, testing hypotheses and seeking explanations. Social Science studies human behavior and social patterns, aiming to understand and explain social situations.
Positivism
Emphasizes observable social realities and law-like generalizations, similar to natural sciences, with a highly structured methodology and statistical analysis.
Realism
Believes in a reality independent of human thoughts, where social objects affect perceptions regardless of awareness. Often mixes positivism and interpretivism in IT research.
Interpretivism
Aims to understand humans as social actors, appreciating the social and cultural forces that influence their perspectives and actions.
Pragmatism
Focuses on the practical consequences of actions and statements, judging the goodness of theories by their success.
Scientific Research Goals
Establishes facts and follows Aristotle’s model of inquiry: Deduction, Induction, Abduction.
Deduction vs. Induction vs. Abduction
Deduction applies general rules to make conclusions. Induction observes specifics to develop general rules. Abduction suggests the likeliest explanation.
Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research
Qualitative research interprets and categorizes actions in a flexible, low-structured way. Quantitative research measures and ranks phenomena with high standardization.
Action Research (AR)
Studies technology in social contexts, aiming to solve real-world problems by developing and applying knowledge collaboratively.
