Terminology

This entry is to serve as a glossary of terms I need to look up along the way. Not alphabetized or organized in any particular way.

Methodology: The study of methods.

Ontology:
(1) The branch of physics dealing with the nature of being.
(2) A set of concepts and categories in a subject area or domain that shows their properties and the relations between them

Epistemology: The theory of knowledge. The investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.

Positivism/Constructivism: Both are viewed as epistemologies that present a different idea of what constitutes as knowledge. Positivism can be understood as a philosophical stance that emphasizes that knowledge should be gained through observable and measurable facts (Realists). In this sense, this is considered as a rigid scientific inquiry. On the other hand, Constructivism states that reality is socially constructed (Anti-Realist). That everything is a simulated perception.

Operationalize: express or define (something) in terms of the operations used to determine or prove it.

Operationalization is the process of strictly defining variables into measurable factors, allowing them to be measured, empirically and quantitatively. These measurements allow others to replicate the research, as well as perform statistical analysis of the results.

Constructs: an idea or theory containing various conceptual elements, typically one considered to be subjective and not based on empirical evidence.

Model: a mental construct of an idea

Empirical: based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic.

Theory: a system of ideas intended to explain something