Inquiry Domain Controls

Control structures in the Inquiry Domain RL2

Frameworks

Research Methods (PH'2)

This framework is posted in detail in the Inquiry & Knowing Satellite.

Establishing Conjectures (PH'2C)

The methods for research (PH'2) can be viewed as modes of investigating or knowing (PH’2μ) that are naturally used in any scholarly or scientific study (PsH2K) conducted within a community of colleagues.

Most scholarly inquirers are only fully comfortable in applying one or two methods for research. However, all inquirers regard certain assumptions and values intrinsic to each method as relevant and potentially necessary to ensure certainty in knowing(i.e. the primal need). These characteristic sets of interlinked assumptions and values constitute the modes.

So modes enable conjectures to be developed and strengthened in a way that is likely to provide more certainty, with each mode making its own distinctive contribution to knowing: details in table below.

Each mode is built around:

a) promoting certainty by:

the essence for knowledge in that mode;
the benefit provided by the effort to know;
the means whereby knowledge is ensured.

b) handling colleagues by:

active participation;
respectful communication;
appropriate individualization.

c) channelling personal functioning:

to counter doubts.

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Click on column headers to be taken to the Research Method.

FEATURES	Mode-1 Explanatory-I	Mode-2 Formal	Mode-3 Dialectic	Mode-4 Empirical	Re-enter Mode-1 Explanatory-II	Mode-5 Analytic	Mode-6 Contemplative	Mode-7 Holistic	Re-enter Mode-1 Explanatory-III
Promoting Certainty
Essence	Develop conjectures	Clarify assumptions	Reveal inherent contradictions	Design observations	Verify regularities	Check theory implications	Highlight anomalies	Identify self-evident patterns	Falsify hypotheses
Desired Effect	Possible knowledge	Definition of concepts	Exposure of perspectives	Anchoring in facts	Knowledge is more plausible	Uphold current paradigm	Open up new possibilities	Integration or unification	Knowledge is testable
Means	Envisage experiments	Identify fundamentals	Identify alternate views	Allow for replication	Perform experiments	Reason systematically	Revise ideas radically	Think via systems	Do controlled experiments
Handling Colleagues
Participation	Invite repeat testing	Defer to peer expertise	Invite debate	Preserve and share data	Support replication	Welcome challenges	Withstand rejection	Seek contributions	Perform meta-analyses
Communication	Emphasize alternatives	Be explicit and precise	Be critical	Show validity and reliability	Put findings in perspective	Be consistent and coherent	Provoke reflection	Use maps and models	Present findings to peers
Individualization	Suggest a theory	State a logical position	Analyse impartially	Use transparent methods	Entertain theories	Structure all arguments	Tolerate uncertainty	Value wholeness	Develop the theory
Channeling Personal Functioning
To Counter Doubts	Be sceptical	Be conventional	Be constructive	Be meticulous		Be clear	Be imaginative	Be open

Knowledge emerges from making discoveries (PsH2), which are regarded as valid by colleagues of independent mind. So all knowledge necessarily commences in a plausible explanation (μ1/L’3) which posits, under a pressure for certainty, a relation that seems to exist in reality, and purports to explain it.

Spiral trajectory of sequential stages based on research modes that allow a conjecture to become established and a focus for falsification.

To sustain and strengthen any such conjecture, modes must be activated in a series of Stages. Values of each mode cumulate progressively, so Stages reflect an increasingly sophisticated conjectural ethos. An inquirer can stop the strengthening process at any Stage if there is a satisfactory degree of certainty that the conjecture can be accepted as knowledge amongst relevant scholars.

In the TET diagram, the unavoidable and natural order for development shows up as a typical Spiral trajectory.

The initial explanatory mode-1 comes into existence spontaneously. Cycle-1 develops in accord with the need to control scientific study: initially by formal-μ2 clarification of assumptions, then by consideration of alternative views in a dialectical-μ3 process, and finally by careful empirical-μ4 observations.

Cycle-2 addresses the aspiration to enhance subjective certainty and ensure collegial acceptability: initially by placing the conjecture in a conceptual framework (analytic-μ5), then by allowing for new possibilities in a contemplative-μ6 process, and finally by integration with existing knowledge (holistic-μ7).

Drivers for progression from one mode/Stage to the next include: