Epistemological Adequacy Research Articles

NOS as part of the Conceptual Ecology of Evolution Teaching and Learning among Greek Students and Science Teachers

The aim of this study was to investigate whether an epistemological adequacy (knowledge of the Nature of Science, NOS) contributes to a better understanding and the acceptance of the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection (ThENS). It was performed in two parts with the help of two questionnaires: 1. with students of Education, with a minimum familiarity to ThENS and NOS, before and after the application of a general biology course, and 2. with 200 Science Education teachers of various specialties who teach or have taught biology-related subjects. The education students showed some moderate levels of proficiency regarding NOS that was improved statistically significantly, even after a limited teaching intervention. An interesting founding was that, while their understanding of the ThENS was not very much improved by the course, it was found a positive correlation between their NOS familiarity and acceptance of evolution. As for the Science teachers, besides the above queries, some other variables were additionally investigated: E.g. to what extent, a better Epistemological Adequacy (knowledge of the Nature of Science) can influence their understanding and acceptance of the ThENS, or whether this affiliation could have been affected by their college or university instruction. The results showed a positive correlation between their epistemological adequacy and the acceptance and understanding of ThENS.

The case study methodology in architectural research: evaluation of epistemological adequacy

PurposeThis study sought to populate a concise set of guidelines for use of the case study research methodology and evaluate the adequacy with which the methodology has been used previously within both the positivist and interpretivist domains of architectural research.Design/methodology/approachFirstly, the study set out to establish, from the literature, the nature of the case study methodology. Thereafter, a set of guidelines for adequate use of the methodology was populated. The study, then, proceeded to examine selected architectural research papers that had used the case study methodology in order to evaluate the adequacy with which they had used the methodology. The research papers were randomly drawn from two major architectural research journals publishing scholarly work within the positivist and interpretivist paradigms.FindingsWithin the interpretivist domain of architectural research, the study found that there might exist some inadequacy in the way in which the case study methodology has been used.Originality/valueDespite the popularity of the case study methodology, there have only been limited scholarly attempts at developing a set of guidelines with which to evaluate the adequacy of its usage, particularly within the context of architectural research. This lack of a concise set of guidelines might lead to inappropriate usage of the methodology. This study sought to undertake a review of the usage of the methodology within architectural research with two objectives, namely, populating a concise set of guidelines for use of the methodology and evaluating the adequacy with which the methodology has been used previously.

Engineering Praxis Ethos: Designing Experiences to Support Curricular and Instructional Improvement in STEM Education

This paper discusses engineering praxis ethos (EPE), a proposed framework for constructing a STEM learning environment embedding interrelated components of learner experience and design activity, which can support curriculum and instructional design and evaluation in STEM education. The authors propose that STEM is a meta-discipline that relies on the design life cycle, the intellectual root of engineering disciplinary knowledge. The nature of design and design activity calls attention to domain-specific needs of STEM teachers and focuses discussions and critiques about the epistemological adequacy of integrated STEM content knowledge. Given the urgent need for learners to develop 21st century skills in STEM, the authors argue for the feasibility of incorporating both mathematical and simulation models using new technologies when designing experiences for learners. An example of teaching and learning systems thinking in undergraduate engineering education highlights how EPE can be a viable theory of action for STEM educators.

Autochtonie


 The uses of the idea of autochthony to represent the inhabitants of dispossessed lands by settler colonialists has turned into an anthropological quarrel about its ethical, political, and epistemological adequacy. This happened because of the polysemic, and often contradictory definitions of ethnicity applied in anthropological theory to address highly complex and asymmetric contexts of social relations and native discourse. This entry emphasizes how an essentialist notion of autochthony misrepresents the ethnicity of Indigenous Peoples. A reference to the Amerindian perspectivism in Lowland South America will be made in this regard to better clarify the argument.

The General Functionalist Concept of Artificial Need as the Basis of Artificial General Intelligence

The article proposes to use a generally functionalist approach to create the basis of the conceptual model of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). AGI is a field of scientific-theoretical and engineering-technological research, focused on the construction and use of computer simulations, models and reproductions of cognitive phenomena of the widest range of life, mental, personal and social manifestations. The methodological basis of AGI is general computer functionalism as a contemporary interpretation of the psychophysiological theory of machine functionalism of H. Putnam of the 1960s. There are collective, conceptual and observant approaches to the formation of general functionalism. A collective approach is the collection, identification, coordination, formalization, systematization, unification, codification of all kinds of functionalist theories. A conceptual approach is the analysis and identification of the main functionalistic characteristics, relationships, patterns, causalities that are invariant with respect to the content of cognitive phenomena. The observation approach allows to evaluate from the position of a person or a social community, immersed in the communicative “waves” of the virtual and real world, the different statuses of technological realizations of general functionalism: ontological, epistemological, logical, linguistic, axiological, aesthetic, ethical and praxeological features of projects of artificial life, artificial consciousness (brain), artificial personality, artificial society. As a basic personal phenomenon, which is defined by a system of functional relations, we take not the pain phenomenon familiar to functionalism but the more productive phenomenon of need. It has an advantage due to the breadth of the scale of phenomenological evidence, epistemological adequacy, ontological foundation. Based on functionalist modeling of need, the so-called “artificial need” arises, which can form the basis for the development of AGI. The author of the article offers one of the options for formalizing needs within the framework of an artificial system based on the general functionalist principle of formalizing cognitive phenomena. The principles of formalization proposed by D. Levin and T.W. Polger, who developed the approach of H. Putnam, are used. The author concludes that the application of this methodology leads us to understanding of an observer in the system of functional relations and considers the AGI as a complexity system.

Differential diagnosis and current polythetic classification.

The introduction of polythetic diagnostic classification (DSM-III and ICD-10) in psychiatry was anticipated to improve the reliability of psychiatric diagnoses, facilitate research, and eventually allow the then future DSM-IV to become anchored in objective, etiological criteria. However, the preparations and release of DSM-IV and DSM-5 highlighted the fact that the etiological promise has not materialized. Psychiatric classifications will continue in the foreseeable future to be based mainly on clinical descriptions. This has stimulated a broad range of reflections and critiques of psychiatric nosology (e.g., (1,2). Yet, the criticism is typically confined to concrete, technical issues, e.g. discussing a necessity for novel categories, modification of existing criteria, correcting definitions and misunderstandings, etc.. The polythetic-operational foundation of current classification remains largely unchallenged (3). Thus, despite a nearly universal consensus about the etiological stalemate, psychiatrists continue to believe that the polythetic system is epistemologically adequate and that it has indeed broadly improved clinical diagnostic reliability. I wish to question the alleged improvement of reliability and to challenge the epistemological adequacy of the polythetic approach. The issue of differential diagnosis will serve as a concrete clinical embodiment of this critique. Needless to say, a full discussion of the theoretical and clinical ramifications of these topics (e.g., the issue of “comorbidity”) is beyond the scope of this article.

Standardizing Housing Defects: Classification, Validation, and Benefits

AbstractDefects produce economic and temporal deviations in construction projects. Although learning from past experiences can help reduce defects and their consequences, usually data is not easily available or is poorly structured and difficult to analyze. Several structured classification systems for defects exist, but regionally specific construction activities make the data unviable for research use. This paper presents the development and the validation of a defects’ classification system for the Spanish housing sector. From the analysis of the existing defect classification systems, a first draft was developed to be discussed and improved in a series of workshops done by a panel of experts. Afterward, the final classification was validated by experts’ interviews. The experts evaluated the epistemological adequacy and reusability of the proposed classification system. The results demonstrate the suitability of the classification system. In addition, the validation revealed that the classification can...

Ontology definition and construction, and epistemological adequacy for systems interoperability: A practitioner analysis

Ontology development is considered to be a useful approach to the design and implementation of interoperable systems. This literature review and commentary examines the current state of knowledge in this field with particular reference to processes involved in assuring epistemological adequacy. It takes the perspective of the information systems practitioner keen to adopt a systematic approach to in-house ontology design, taking into consideration previously published work. The study arises from author involvement in an integration/interoperability project on systems that support Scottish Common Housing Registers in which, ultimately, ontological modelling was not deployed. Issues concerning the agreement of meaning, and the implications for the creation of interoperable systems, are discussed. The extent to which those theories, methods and frameworks provide practitioners with a usable set of tools is explored, and examples of practical applications of ontological modelling are noted. The findings from the review of the literature demonstrate a number of difficulties faced by information systems practitioners keen to develop and deploy domain ontologies. A major problem is deciding which broad approach to take: to rely on automatic ontology construction techniques, or to rely on keywords and domain experts to develop ontologies.

Geography matters: agency, structures and dynamics at the intersection of economics and geography

Contemporary debates in economic geography are characterized by a lack of agreement with respect to both those aspects of the evolving economic landscape that call for explanation and what constitutes an adequate explanation of geographical reality. We articulate a distinctively geographical approach to modeling processes of regional growth and change. The evolving economic landscape is conceptualized as a ‘going concern’, characterized by complex dynamic interdependencies between the agents and structures that constitute spatial economic systems. At any moment in time, interdependencies between agents are constrained by social and spatial structure, but over time structure and agency are mutually constituted: a socio-spatial dialectic. We contend that the complex interdependence between agents, structures and dynamics increases the likelihood of persistent non-equilibrium space-time trajectories. We conclude that questions of conceptual and epistemological adequacy in economic geography cannot be resolved in favor of any single ‘best’ approach, and argue that debates should move away from competing monist accounts, towards critically engaged pluralism.

Comparing formal theories of context in AI

The problem of context has a long tradition in different areas of artificial intelligence (AI). However, formalizing context has been widely discussed only since the late 80s, when J. McCarthy argued that formalizing context was a crucial step toward the solution of the problem of generality. Since then, two main formalizations have been proposed in AI: Propositional Logic of Context (PLC) and Local Models Semantics/ MultiContext Systems (LMS/MCS). In this paper, we propose the first in depth comparison between these two formalizations, both from a technical and a conceptual point of view. The main technical result of this paper is the formal proof of the following facts: (i) PLC can be embedded into a particular class of MCS, called MPLC; (ii) MCS/LMS cannot be embedded in PLC using only lifting axioms to encode bridge rules, and (iii) under some important restrictions (including the hypothesis that each context has finite and homogeneous propositional languages), MCS/LMS can be embedded in PLC with generic axioms. The last part of the paper contains a comparison of the epistemological adequacy of PLC and MCS/LMS for the representation of the most important issues about contexts.

Experimenting on Theories

The ArgumentThis paper sets out a framework for understanding how the scientific community constructs computer simulation as an epistemically and pragmatically useful methodology. The framework is based on comparisons between simulation and the loosely-defined categories of “theoretical work” and “experimental work.” Within that framework, the epistemological adequacy of simulation arises from its role as a mathematical manipulation of a complex, abstract theoretical model. To establish that adequacy demands a detailed “theoretical” grasp of the internal structure of the computer program. Simultaneously, the pragmatic usefulness of simulation arises from its role as a “virtual laboratory.” That role is made possible by black-boxing the internal structure of the program, such that the scientist can interact with the computer in an intuitive, “experimental” manner. Thus simulation is rendered authoritative, opening up encoded theories to a novel, “experimental” type of manipulation.

Relation-based evidential reasoning

We argue that the difficult and ill-understood task of estimating numerical degrees of belief for the propositions to be used in evidential reasoning can be avoided by replacing estimations of absolute values with the much simpler and more defensible assignments of relations. Using a well-known example we demonstrate that it is difficult to justify decisions based on numerical degrees of belief and to answer questions such as “How do changes in the numbers affect the answers.” This shows that the epistemological adequacy criterion for representations is violated and leads to the proposal of a representation method for uncertain information based on representing arguments such as “evidence e supports alternative set A” and relative strengths of arguments such as “e 1 supports A 1 better than e 2 supports A 2”. We prove that, in a certain sense, belief functions are equivalent to a special case of the proposed method, namely, the cases where all arguments are based on only one piece of evidence. Finally, we compare our approach to those of, for example, Cohen, Grosof, and Pearl.