Fundamental Elemen to of Qualitative Research in Social Sciences (Ontology, Epistemology, Methodology and Methods)

The ontological, epistemological, methodological and methodical are the four aspects of research and of knowledge. Each aspect is significant in its own right, and all are interdependent. In the research literature, particular problems are expected to arise, for instance, conceptual separation of ontology from epistemology bears its own specific question. The word methodology is also often carelessly used and that researchers use research methods without knowing much about their self-agreed ontological and epistemological assumptions. All these issues accentuate the need for clarification of the methods, methodology, ontology, and epistemology. This study is based on a theoretical approach. During the data collection the aforementioned four aspects have been conceptualized and synthesized. Having referred to the extensive literature in this area, we have tried to determine the importance of these aspects and their relevance to one another in qualitative researches. The findings show that the methodology and methods can never be selected in any way apart from the ontological and epistemological positions. Different situations of ontology and epistemology produce different methodology and methods that ultimately lead to knowledge about the social world.