Introduction to Doctoral Research

Philosophically-informed research:a personal journey

David PiggottSchool of Sport, Coaching and Exercise Science

Philosophy and research

“Ask a scientist what he conceives his scientific method to be, and he will adopt an expression that is at once solemn and shifty-

eyed: solemn, because he feels he ought to declare an opinion; shifty-eyed, because he is wondering how to conceal the fact

that he has no opinion to declare.”- Sir Peter Medawar

“There is no such thing as philosophy-free science; there is only science whose philosophical baggage is taken on board without

examination.”- Daniel Dennett

Where are you now?

1. What is your research question?2. How far do you use existing knowledge to

answer this question?3. To what extent do you situate yourself in the

research?4. What are you looking for exactly when you

collect and interpret data?

My journey: the start

Question Pre-philosophy answer

1 RQ What are young people’s experiences of football in FA Charter Standard clubs and schools in England?

2 EK Decided to use grounded theory (ethical commitment to listen to YP) which suggests the researcher enter the field “in abstract wonderment of what is going on.”

3 SY In GT, the researcher is an objective observer ‘discovering’ theory, which ‘emerges’ from the data with the faithful application of GT techniques.

4 CID ‘Social processes’ – sequences of evolving interactions where changes are traced to structural conditions – which are ‘out there’ awaiting discovery.

The end (sort of)

Question Post-philosophy answer

1 RQ What are young people’s experiences of football in England?

2 EK ‘Theoretical sensitivity’ is ambiguous – you can’t ‘hold back’ ideas and knowledge – so we need to acknowledge a natural ‘horizon of expectations’. CRa

3 SY It’s not possible to be objective! Declare and embrace ‘bias’ (experience and subjectivity); the research is a co-construction; theory is generated, not discovered; objective knowledge comes from inter-subjective criticism. Cra

4 CID Layered reality: real > actual > empirical; structures/cultural norms > dispositions > practices; conditional complex and causation (sculpture metephor); transcend structure-agency dichotomy. CRe

“Knowledge is an adventure of ideas.”

- Sir Karl Popper