In this course focuses on the ‘Ph’ of the PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) to make explicit the philosophical assumptions and coherence of a research proposal, article, or thesis.

The theoretical assumptions are:

•  two keywords in a non-tautological relationship;
• two streams of thought for a critical synthesis;
• a research gap from previous conclusions;
• a research question or hypothesis from five levels of knowledge depth; and
• the state of science as current answers or results.

The methodological assumptions are:

• a meta philosophical stance from a matrix of four;
• a research strategy from one of four toolboxes;
• complementary data collection techniques;
• data analysis techniques including research software; and
• a set of incommensurable quality criteria from a matrix of four.

The empirical assumptions are:

• a unit of analysis i.e. entity or process;
• a level of analysis i.e. scale;
• nature of data as qualitative or quantitative;
• origin of data as primary or secondary; and
• an analytical or statistical sample.

The rhetoric assumptions are:

• pathos i.e. practical and ethical implications;
• logos i.e. quasi-inductive, hypothetic-deductive, or abductive logic; and
• ethos i.e. theoretical, methodological, and empirical limitations.

And the authorial assumptions are:

• wisdom i.e. first-hand experience of the empirical phenomenon;
• trust i.e. support network; and
• time i.e. funding and working regime.

Course Structure:

• Cognitive abilities of research: abstract, critical, systemic, integrative, and subtractive thinking.                    
• Philosophical dilemmas of research: theory ladenness, paradigm incommensurability, empirical underdetermination, relevance, and parsimony.                                                                                                                             
• Theoretical coherence of research: keywords, streams of thought, research gap, research question or hypothesis, and state of the science.  
•  Methodological coherence of research: philosophical stance, research strategy, data collection, data analysis, and quality criteria.
• Empirical coherence of research: unit of analysis, level of analysis, nature of data, origin of data, and sample.    
• Rhetorical coherence of research: pathos, logos, and ethos.              
• Authorial coherence of research: wisdom, trust, and time.                                                                                                       

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• acknowledge the relation between epistemology, methodology, ontology, and axiology;
• coherently align the theory, method, data, rhetoric, and authorship of a research proposal, article, or thesis with the Idea Puzzle software and
• review the strengths and weaknesses of a research project in any field of knowledge;
• In the terminology of the European Competence Framework for Researchers, this workshop develops cognitive abilities

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