Class 2- sept 9 -Point of understanding research methods is to be able to think critically and be able to evaluate the credibility and worth of data and statistics -Intuition: unquestioning acceptance of: own judgement, anecdotal evidence, a gut feeling, someone else's experience. Often involves a self made explanation, which can be biased and wrong. Often involves illusionary correlation which is when one focuses on two events that stand out and correlates them together -Pros: quick and easy to access knowledge; allows understanding of values that are important to us -Cons: hard to analyze and critique; subject to prejudices and misconceptions -Authority: belief in a "credible other," someone who exhibits, prestige, trust, and respect, status -Pros: minimises need to acquire knowledge on own; many authorities have legitimate credentials to be considered "authority" -Cons: authorities may be wrong, using experience, folk wisdom, or intuition; authority may be due to perceived cues of credibility like attractiveness or popularity -Common sense/folklore: appealing to an expectation that everyone knows -Pros: there will be an explanation for every situation; acts as a short, mutually understood way of communicating a complex idea -Cons: often contradictory, becoming meaningless; unfalsifiable -Experience: relying on personal experience to make decisions -Pros: may be representative of collection of all possible outcomes; examples are vivid and easy to remember -Cons: may not be representative of collection of all possible outcomes; doesn't account for alternate explanations -Logic: knowledge derived from logical reasoning -Pros: leads to internally consistent reasoning and decisions; easy to analyze and critique -Cons: logical reasoning can be based on incorrect premises, information, or other logical fallacies; what may be logically consistent could be different from what occurs in the world -Sometimes it is ok to fall to intuition, authority, or beliefs. Intuition and authority can lead to ideas for research, authorities of credible source with research can be critically evaluated (watch out for fund source, like safety of meds and med company is sketchy), and beliefs and opinions are ok to express as long as states as opinions. -Pseudoscience: uses scientific terms to substantiate claims with scientific data
-Scientific skepticism means to evaluate ideas, and the basis of logic and results from scientific investigations. Linked to employment of empiricism (knowledge based on structured, systematic approaches) -Research methods give common language and set of tools to guide and encourage critical thinking -Scientific inquiry: 1. Accurate observations that are reported and can be replicated. Replication allows for testing of false positives, random flukes, and alternate explanations like confounds 2. Scientists make observations, develop theories, argue existing data supports their theories, conduct research to evaluate their theories 3. Science is best when there is open exchange and competition of ideas. This leads to need for falsifiable ideas to allow for more development and evaluation 4. Peer review which allows for better research to be published, since peers can filter out research that has major flaws in theory, methodology, or conclusion Class 3- sept 12 -Scientific method of understanding the world: Canons of science: