Abstract

This book provides a means of comprehensively grounding and considering the epistemological and philosophical underpinnings of practice-based research epistemologies. Introducing readers to the diverse array of methodological tools and concepts that necessary to underpin postgraduate research, it develops an understanding of the distinctions between practice-led research, practice-based research and question-led research, and the contextual significance of each, as well as enabling students to comprehend the historical relationships between academic disciplines and the value of re-connecting them at an epistemological and philosophical level. Through illustrated examples from applied practice across disciplines such as art, social sciences, medical and allied healthcare sciences, readers are encouraged to develop the capacity not only to think conceptually about their own research, but to systematically evaluate that of others. With this focus on descriptive studies from practice, it fosters higher order critical thinking in relation to implications for methodological implementation, encouraging deep learning processes and the confidence to transcend the limits of one’s own discipline in order to work collaboratively with researchers in different fields.