Multiple ways of knowing: Teaching research under EPAS 2015

ABSTRACT

Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) 2015 add new research requirements focusing on multiple ways of knowing and culturally informed approaches to knowledge building. These new requirements link to indigenous ways of knowing that orient the worldviews of many non-Western cultures. This article identifies key issues that distinguish culturally informed approaches to knowledge building from Western approaches. It provides an overview of a range of indigenous and culturally informed research principles. Two reflective examples of why and how these culturally informed methods are important to high-quality research are also presented. The examples show how different ways of knowing add to understanding and may enhance research usefulness.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous populations
• social work research
• multiple ways of knowing
• scholarship of teaching and learning
• EPAS

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.