The Three Wise Monkeys of Research

Epistemology, Ontology, Methodology

By: Tara Brabazon

Narrated by: Tara Brabazon

Research is anchored by assumptions. How do we complete research—and why? This book—The Three Monkeys of Research—explores epistemology, ontology and methodology. Tara Brabazon explores how ideas become knowledge, and how arguments are verified, believed and disseminated to scholars, stakeholders and citizens.

©2023 Tara Brabazon (P)2023 Tara Brabazon

Great reminder of fundamentals

Overall great stuff. Additional material on positionality was an excellent reminder to researchers; tied in well with Conflict of Interest topic.

Threads left unpulled

The outline of this book is fantastic. The philosophical underpinning of science and translating it into a useful framework for modern researchers is a wonderful premise. I find, however, the level of detail for epistemology and ontology to be unsatisfying. There are many references made that go unexplained. The book spends much of its time focusing on methodology. The time spent on explaining positionality is good, but is longer than the philosophy sections. It would be good then, to explore what positionality implies in terms of ontological commitment. The author is a great narrator, but the audio in the beginning needs work.

As is, this is a great guest lecture for a new audience. This book asks big questions and motivates, but doesn’t hand us the tools to answer them.