TY - ABST
T1 - Uncovering Epistemological Assumptions underlying Research in Information Studies
AU - Fuller, Steve
AU - Hjørland, Birger
AU - Ibekwe-SanJuan, Fidelia
AU - Ma, Lai
AU - Mai, Jens-Erik
AU - Tennis, Joseph
AU - Warner, Julian
N1 - Fuller, Steve ; Hjorland, Birger ; Ibekwe-sanjuan, Fidelia ; Ma, Lai ; Mai, Jens Erik ; Tennis, Joseph ; Warner, Julian. Uncovering Epistemological Assumptions underlying Research in Information Studie.
76th ASIS&T Annual Meeting., 2013
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - There have been several calls from LIS researchers for practical or applied research not to ignore the epistemological assumptions underlying the systems and artifacts they design lest they showcase only the dominant theory at a given time. Others have also deplored the "epistemological promiscuity" or "eclecticism" of the field, its incessant borrowing of theories and models from elsewhere (interdisciplinarity) and the fact that the field has largely neglected the contributions that philosophy and epistemology could have made in its research. This problem raises that of the boundaries of LIS and is all the more troublesome because boundaries between epistemological theories are fuzzy. Indeed, some epistemological theories share the same basic assumptions or are historically derived from one another (rationalism and positivism, for instance). Gathering a wide array of acknowledged theorists in philosophy of science and epistemology, this panel aims to examine how research work in the LIS field can clearly articulate the epistemological assumptions underlying that research and under what constraints this can be achieved. The topic is of prime importance to Information studies as a whole and to ASIST as the scientific flag bearer of information scientists worldwide.
AB - There have been several calls from LIS researchers for practical or applied research not to ignore the epistemological assumptions underlying the systems and artifacts they design lest they showcase only the dominant theory at a given time. Others have also deplored the "epistemological promiscuity" or "eclecticism" of the field, its incessant borrowing of theories and models from elsewhere (interdisciplinarity) and the fact that the field has largely neglected the contributions that philosophy and epistemology could have made in its research. This problem raises that of the boundaries of LIS and is all the more troublesome because boundaries between epistemological theories are fuzzy. Indeed, some epistemological theories share the same basic assumptions or are historically derived from one another (rationalism and positivism, for instance). Gathering a wide array of acknowledged theorists in philosophy of science and epistemology, this panel aims to examine how research work in the LIS field can clearly articulate the epistemological assumptions underlying that research and under what constraints this can be achieved. The topic is of prime importance to Information studies as a whole and to ASIST as the scientific flag bearer of information scientists worldwide.
M3 - Conference abstract for conference
T2 - ASIST Annual Meeting
Y2 - 1 November 2013 through 5 November 2013
ER -