Philosophy of science, scientific truth, and research

Philosophy has a close relationship in human’s life. It is a study of understanding the

mysteries of existence and reality. It tries to discover the nature of truth and knowledge and to
find what is of basic value and importance in life. It also examines the relationships between
humanity and nature and between the individual and society. It arises out of wonder, curiosity,
and the desire to know and understand. Thus, it is a form of inquiry--a process of analysis,
criticism, interpretation, and speculation as an activity of thought which critical and
comprehensive, it also involves resolving confusion, unmasking assumptions, revealing
presuppositions, distinguishing importance, testing positions, correcting distortions, looking for
reasons, examining world-views and questioning conceptual frameworks. It also synthesizing
knowledge and questing for wisdom, which is bringing together all that we know in order to
obtain what we value.

Moreover, Philosophy of science is a sub-field of philosophy concerned with the

foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern
what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultimate purpose of science
(source Wikipedia). It studies ontology, epistemology and axiology. To sum up, it is a study that
deals specifically with what science is, how it works, and the logic through which we build
scientific knowledge. It deals with the study of what is and isn't classified as science. “Science is
systematic, rational acquisition of new knowledge.” (Niiniluoto, 1999).

Therefore, philosophy is important in human life. By studying philosophy, people can

clarify what they believe, and they can be stimulated to think about ultimate questions. A person
can study philosophers of the past to discover why they thought as they did and what value their
thoughts may have in one's own life. It is as the basis in seeking the meaning of scientific truth.

When people keep asking question on things, they can keep finding better answers also.
They are sometimes curiosity to discover the unknown, and they want or need to find the answer
as the problem solving. It can be done through research. Research is a systematic investigation

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into and study of materials, sources, etc, in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions, or
it is an endeavour to discover new or collate old facts etc by the scientific study of a subject or by
a course of critical investigation. [Oxford Concise Dictionary]. It can be concluded as a process
of enquiry and investigation; it is systematic, methodical and ethical; research can help solve
practical problems and increase knowledge.

For example, it is what we do when we have a question or a problem we want to resolve,

we may already think that we know the answer to our question already, the answer is maybe
obvious, common sense even, but until we have subjected our problem to rigorous scientific
scrutiny, our 'knowledge' remains little more than guesswork or at best, intuition. First priority is
to formulate the question, then figure out how you are going to answer it the next is, how have
others answered it? How does your proposal fit in with what others have done? How will you
know when you have answered it? Then you can present your answer.

It can be done through research in order to seek to the answer of the assumption and
presumptions people about something they want to find out to become a scientific truth.
Scientific truth is based on facts. The facts are used to construct theories which describe the
detailed relations among large numbers of facts. Philosophy relates to scientific truth because
philosophy is to discover and comprehend the truth, a seeker of the truth will therefore find
something which is coherent and correspond to facts which acquire in research. Therefore
Philosophy relates to research as the way to find out, the philosophy is seen as providing
justification for particular scientific theories.

Furthermore, any knowledge gained through research and it was filtered by using
scientific method to collect measurable, empirical evidence in a research. Every assumptions,
foundations and implications in research also refer to philosophy of science as the fundamental
in answering the research questions (ontologically-what, epistemological-how, and axiologically-
what for). Those can be viewed as a way of describing how research is conducted, and a way of
deciding how it should be carried out.

Ontology is the study about the existing object. According to Blaikie (1993) he describes
the ontology as ‘the science or study of being’ it can cover the questions of ‘what exists, what it
looks like, what unit make it up, and how these units interact with each other’. To sum up, the

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ontology describes our view (whether claims or assumptions) on the nature of reality, and
specially, this can be an objective reality exists, or this can be only a subjective reality, created in
our mind (the researchers). The researcher must know the object which will be carried out in
research.

For example in PMPBI consists of Pedagogy and Linguistics as the object. And the
object consists of the material and formal aspect. Pedagogy is the discipline that deals with the
theory and practice of teaching; it discusses human as the object material and education as the
object formal. The term of human as the object material, it covers the development of human
skills acquisition in acquiring the knowledge, while education as the object formal covers the
process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and
habits.

Meanwhile, linguistics is concerned with the nature of language and communication; it

discusses human as the object material and English as the object formal. The term of human as
the object material, it covers the development of human skills acquisition and factors affecting
language learning (e.g: aptitude, personality, motivation and attitude, learner preference, learner
beliefs, age of acquisition, intelligence, aptitude) in acquiring the English as second or foreign
language, while English as the object formal covers the knowledge of English lexicon, grammar:
phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax semantic, pragmatic and skills in English(listening,
speaking, reading, and writing). By knowing these objects in ontology aspect, the researcher
know what is the object (nature of reality) and how can we understand the existence. Researchers
will have assumptions about the object/reality to a particular view. Reality can be thought of as
knowledge of phenomena.

Epistemology in research is the study of knowledge, according to Collis and Hussey

2003, epistemology is concerned with the study of knowledge and what we accept as being valid
knowledge. It is a branch of philosophy that deals with how knowledge (result of the research) is
acquire, that knowledge can be in any sense true or false, it needs proof by using the
methodology, the finding of the answer is occurred in epistemology part in research. It is best
understood as the science of obtaining knowledge and justification the result of the research
which is the result can become a scientific truth or not. Scientific truth is based on facts. The

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facts are used to construct theories which describe the detailed relations among large numbers of
facts.

Axiology studies judgments about the value (sunders, 2012). Specifically, axiology is
engaged with assessment of the role of researcher’s own value on all stages of the research
process (Li, 2016). In simple terms, axiology focuses on what do you value in your research.
This is important because your values affect how you conduct your research and what do you
value in your research findings.

The research can be done by various purposes. According to Collis & Hussey (2003), the
purposes of research are: to review or synthesize existing knowledge, to investigate existing
situations or problems, to provide solutions to problems, to explore and analyze more general
issues, to construct or create new procedures or systems, to explain new phenomenon and to
generate new knowledge or a combination of any above.

Additionally, people need to do research because it is a compulsion that they must to

fulfill in their study or their job. For example, student must comply with the prerequirement to do
research before getting the s1 degree, and then the post graduate student is accustomed in doing
research during their education and after graduation, and for professional to do an action research
to evaluate their practices, for example teachers can do research to evaluate their practices in
order to find better treatment in teaching and so forth.

There are several types of research that we can select that appropriate with our needs of
the research. There are four different type of research. First, exploratory research, it is
undertaken when few or no previous studies exist. The aim is to look for patterns, hypotheses or
ideas that can be tested and will form the basis for further research. Typical research techniques
would include case studies, observation and reviews of previous related studies and data. Second,
descriptive research, it can be used to identify and classify the elements or characteristics of the
subject, e.g. number of days lost because of industrial action. Quantitative techniques are most
often used to collect, analyse and summarise data. Third, Analytical research often extends the
descriptive approach to suggest or explain why or how something is happening, e.g. underlying

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causes of industrial action. An important feature of this type of research is in locating and
identifying the different factors (or variables) involved. Fourth, predictive research, the aim is to
speculate intelligently on future possibilities, based on close analysis of available evidence of
cause and effect, e.g. predicting when and where future industrial action might take place.

The epistemological and ontological views in research determine the research paradigm
and also determine the research strategy or methodology. Researchers have to diagnose the
research paradigm before conducting research. Then, the researcher may determine the research
approach.

Research can be approached in some ways, they are quantitative/qualitative,

Applied/Basic, Deductive/Inductive. Quantitative research emphasis on collecting and analyzing
numerical data that concentrates on measuring the scale, range, frequency etc. of phenomena.
The researches can be done in quantitative research are experimental research, correlation,
comparative research. But, in Qualitative research is more subjective in understanding
phenomena in depth and within specific contexts of a research subject, e.g. values, attitudes,
perceptions. The narrative study, phenomenology, grounded theory, and case study are the kinds
of researcher can be done in this approach.

In basic research, the primary aim of this research is to establish relationship among
phenomena, test, and theory and generate new knowledge or to improve knowledge generally,
without any particular applied purpose in mind at the outset. Meanwhile, the Applied Research is
to generate understanding of human behavior and problems for the purpose of intervention. It is
designed from the start to apply its findings to a particular situation. Researchers are expected to
engage with an applied research or problem solving research project.

The research is not ‘neutral’, but reflects the researcher’s personal interests, values,
abilities, assumptions, aims and ambitions. Why you collected certain data, what data you
collected, where you collected it, how you collected it, how you analyzed it. (Collis & Hussey,
2003, p.55).

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 The research structures involve some steps in doing research. First, setting the
background of the research, second stating hypothesis, third, testing hypothesis in this step, the
researcher do by stating the investigated variables, stating the technique data analysis, describing
the result of data analysis, interpreting the conclusion of data analysis, concluding hypothesis
testing which can be rejected or accepted, the last step is making conclusion.

As example of the research, the writer would like to highlight the action research.
Professional considers doing an action research to evaluate their practices to improve it, for
example teachers do research to evaluate their practice in teaching field. This research can be
done by researchers, teachers and the combination of them (also with possible involvement of
students, parents, and administrators.

The purpose of doing this research, particularly for teachers are, to address and find
solutions to particular problems in a specific teaching or learning situation, to underpin and
investigate curriculum innovation and to understand the processes that occur as part of
educational change, to provide a vehicle for reducing gaps between academic research findings
and practical classroom applications, to facilitate the professional development of reflective
teachers, to acquaint teachers with research skills and to enhance their knowledge of conducting
research and to enhance the development of teachers’ personal practical theories Those purposes
adapted from Burns 2005:62). In conclusion it is to Purpose to develop solutions to problems
identified within one’s specific learning

The philosophical assumption in this research is particular problem in a specific learning.

The main method mainly qualitative, interpretative, cases studied reflectively through cyclical
observational and non-observational means. The outcomes of this research is the development of
action to effect change and improvement, and deeper understanding in one’s own social
situation/specific Learning. And for the criteria for judgments are subjectivity, feasibility,
trustworthiness, and resonance of research outcomes with those in the same or similar social
situation.

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 The procedure how to do this research is the first step is identifying issues and
developing questions the research topic should reflect an issue of importance to you as a teacher.
The second step is learning more about your issue. The researcher may read credible journals and
study your topic of interest to gain further knowledge. This information will guide the strategies
you implement in your research. Use at least 3 resources. The third step is developing a strategy
for your study. Researcher may figure out all of the steps of the strategy. What will you do?
What steps do you need to take before implementing the strategy? This also includes how you
will collect data and who will be involved. The fourth step is Gathering and analyzing data. The
fifth step is taking action and sharing your results. The researcher may compare results with your
original action research question. This is the time to reflect on the results and the process, and
how your findings can impact others. The last step is Personal reflection. The researcher thinks
about the action research process.

The result of the research may become a knowledge which the researcher does the
justification the result of the research which is the result can become a scientific truth or not. The
result of the research can be scientific truth, if it is appropriate after doing justification of it.

The research is written in the form of research paper as a method of communication, an

attempt to tell others about some specific data that researcher have gathered and what the
researcher think those data mean in the context of the research. It is written in scientific writing.
For clear communication, the paper obviously requires proper usage of the writing style and
scientific notation. The writing style involves choosing the appropriate wording, syntax, and
style in your text. And the scientific notation involves the way of the researcher put the
quotation, footnote and reference.

The papers must be written clearly and concisely so that readers with backgrounds
similar to the researcher, so it can be understood easily what the researcher have done and how
the researcher have done it should they want to repeat or extend the researcher work. When
writing papers for the English education department, it can be assumed that the audience will be
readers like the researcher with similar knowledge.

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References

Book title: “Effective Learning Service Introduction to Research and Research Methods”-
Bradfort.university of school management.

Burns, A. (1999). Collaborative action research for English language teachers. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

Collis, J. & Hussey, R. (2003) Business Research: a practical guide for undergraduate and
postgraduate students, second edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Glanz, J.(2003). Action research:an educational leader’s guide to school improvement. Norwood,
Mass. Christopher- Gordon Publishers,Inc.

Li, Y. (2016) “Expatriate Manager’s Adaption and Knowledge Acquisition: Personal

Development in Multi-National Companies in China” Springer Publications

Niiniluoto, I. (1999), Critical Scientific Realism, Oxford UP, Oxford.

Oxford Concise Dictionary

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2012) “Research Methods for Business Students”
6th edition, Pearson Education Limited

www.wikipedia.com