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Heidegger's Theory of Truth and its Importance for the Quality of Qualitative Research
Author(s) -
HUTTUNEN RAUNO,
KAKKORI LEENA
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of philosophy of education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.501
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9752
pISSN - 0309-8249
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9752.12429
Subject(s) - epistemology , reliability (semiconductor) , quality (philosophy) , validity , qualitative research , scientific realism , realism , computer science , sociology , management science , psychology , social science , philosophy , psychometrics , power (physics) , clinical psychology , physics , quantum mechanics , economics
When reliability and validity were introduced as validation criteria for empirical research in the human sciences, quantitative research methods prevailed, and theory of science relied on neopositivism (Vienna Circle) or postpositivism (scientific realism). Within this worldview, notions of reliability and validity as criteria of scientific goodness were introduced. Reliability and validity were associated with the correspondence theory of truth, which is mostly ill‐suited to the needs of qualitative research. For that reason, qualitative research must look for other kinds of validation criteria. The article elaborates the problems arising when the correspondence theory of truth is used as an ultimate criterion in evaluating qualitative research and proposes Heidegger's hermeneutical or alethetical idea of truth as a more suitable approach.