Conceptual and Epistemological Clarification for Research in Education, Psychology and Social Sciences

Abstract

The article seeks to clarify the concepts involved in research methodology in education from an epistemological foundation. The method used is semantic and epistemological analysis of the concepts widely used in bibliographic resources on research methodology in social sciences, particularly in education, since it was found that, in the bibliographies on research methodology published in Spanish there is an indistinct use of the main concepts involved in the research process, such as approaches, paradigms, methods and research designs, among others, bringing equivocal understandings, ambiguous meanings and confusing applications of those who do research arising communication complications. It concludes with a proposal for conceptual clarification that allows a comprehensive standardization of the use and meaning of the most commonly used research terms in social science research methodology.