Karma Theory

Researchers studying human actions in whatever context can either ignore or include the experiences they encounter in the context of their research. If they include them, and thus depart from a participatory research inquiry, they are required to become aware of the beliefs of the other respondents, be conscious of the given context and know how this shapes them. In this context, the focus is on karma theory. A researcher using a positivistic view will ignore karma theory because it is not objectively known (epistemology) and will use third person approaches to get knowledge, and when this approach does not verify karma theory, he or she will claim that karma does not exist (ontology). However, a researcher departing from a participatory view of research will acknowledge the epistemology that knowledge is self-reflexive; the researcher will then give room to a first person approach and, therefore, will be open to experiential knowledge which will contribute towards articulating and accepting karma theory as a part of nature, of reality, and thus given (ontology). Thus, researchers believing in karma theory and those who do not may apply different sets of assumptions and use different types of experiences, perception, interpretation and knowledge in approaching their main research concern when studying human behaviour.

There are three approaches of action research as described by the editors of this encyclopedia:

• First person research and practice skills and methods address the ability of the researcher to foster an inquiring approach to his or her own life, to act deliberately and with awareness and to assess effects in the outside world while acting.
• Second person action research and practice address the ability to inquire face-to-face with others into issues of mutual concern—for example, in the service of improving personal and professional practice, both individually and separately.
• Third person strategies aim to create a wider community of inquiry involving persons who, because they cannot be known to each other face-to-face (e.g. in a large, geographically dispersed corporation), have an impersonal relationship.

This entry proposes that all these approaches can be preceded by encountering experiential knowledge as exemplified in karma theory—an application of a participatory world view. Such a world view is fundamentally experiential, stating that the world—here as experienced and articulated through karma theory—is the basis of ontology and epistemology. Therefore, consider the following questions: What is this Law of Karma? How does it work? How can it be applied in the context of a first person approach?