During my undergraduate the words ‘ontology’ and ‘epistemology’ were banded around. Although they were explained several times I just couldn’t get my head round it all. To be honest, there are still some days where my brain doesn’t quite compute. It took me the longest time to understand that I am a relativist-constructionist (more on that later [and thanks to Braun and Clarke’s Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide which finally cracked this for me!]).

It is nice to know what area I’m working from (and the technical name for it!) before commencing the next three years of my PhD.

Understanding Ontology: What Really Exists?

Ontology is answering the question: What actually exists in the world for us to know? Ontology shapes how certain we can be about the things we study, and how confidently we can make “truth claims” about reality. It also asks who gets to decide what counts as real—and what we do when people have very different ideas about what reality even is.

Examples: Realists believe there’s one single reality, stable and knowable, whether we’re around to observe it or not. In contrast, relativists (me!) argue that reality isn’t fixed at all—it’s socially constructed and shaped by context. From this view, there’s no universal “truth,” just different versions of reality experienced by different people.

Epistemology: How Do We Know What We Know?

Epistemology asks: how we come to know. This branch of philosophy focuses on what counts as knowledge, how knowledge is produced, and how far it can be applied beyond its original setting. In research, epistemology deeply influences how studies are designed and how their findings are understood.

One way to think about epistemology is to look at the relationship between the “knower” (the subject) and what’s being studied (the object); objectivism, constructionism and subjectivism.

Objectivist epistemology assumes that reality exists independently of us and can be measured or observed objectively. Research grounded in objectivism emphasizes reliability and generalizability—basically, findings that hold steady across different situations.

Constructionist epistemology challenges the idea of an objective truth waiting to be discovered. Instead, it says meaning is created through our interactions with the world. Constructionist research is valuable because it helps us understand how people make sense of things in specific contexts.

Subjectivist epistemology goes a step further by emphasizing personal interpretation. Here, reality is shaped by individual experiences, expectations, and symbolic systems like language. Think of a scuba diver spotting a shadow in the water—what they think it is depends on what they’re primed to expect. Subjectivist research highlights how personal experiences influence perception.

Why are ontology and epistemology important in research?

Ontology and epistemology create our philosophical perspectives—the broader worldviews that shape how we approach research. These perspectives make visible the assumptions researchers bring into our work, influencing everything from the purpose of a study to how data is gathered, analysed, and interpreted.

The simple act of choosing what to study isn’t neutral as it reflects the researcher’s values and beliefs about what matters, what exists, and what’s worth knowing. Through understanding our own philosophical stance, us researchers can design clearer, more coherent and ethical studies, with transparency on how we have created our conclusions.