How to Build Knowledge Scientifically?
Why Should I Care?
How research is conducted can affect the results of a scientific project. The “Devil is in the details.”
Definitions
- Variable: Any aspect or characteristic that varies from case to case, or over time.
- Empirical data: Data are sets of observations that were obtained from natural life. Empirical means that the data is not artificial or hypothetical.
- Anecdotal data: One or very few observations will be considered an anecdote, or anecdotal. Scientists won't base knowledge on small sample data sets.
- Hypothesis: A statement that focuses on the possible relationships between variables, expressed in a way that involves testing through observation.
- Theory: A logically coherent set of ideas that accounts for the empirical patterns discovered by empirical research.
Objects of Observation
- Personal Characteristic: Height, skin color, eye color, shoe size, etc.
- Socio-Demographic Characteristic: religion, gender, age, language, income, etc.
- Opinion: political, hockey, moral, legal, cultural, artistic
- Motivations: interests, goals, objectives, influences
- Ideology: schools of thought, political parties, philosophies
- Biases/Prejudice: culture, education, prior experience
- Preferences: taste, culture, personality
- Personal History/Background: events, people, deaths, immigration
- Family Dynamics: rank in the family, role, age, etc.
- Cultural History: events, people, history class, family politics
- Perception/Self-Perception: how you are perceived, how you perceive yourself
- Aptitude/Ability: running, jumping, typing, reading, speaking, calculating, etc.
- Behaviour: doing something, not just talk.
- Intention: honesty, lying, mischief, morality.
- Action: cowardice, bravery, brazenness, audacity, etc.
- Level of Knowledge: test, quiz, recall, response time, memory.
Modes of human expression
- Verbal Communication
- Recorded
- Live
- Non-Verbal Communication
- Physical Behaviour
- Art
- Writings
- Artifacts/Objects
History of Science
Science is young.
Elements at the heart of science from its beginnings:
- Transparency
- In objective observation: this is what I recorded
- In method: this is how I recorded it
- Logic: explanations are of reason
- Repeatability: someone else could redo the whole thing and compare results
Religion vs. Science – Giordano Bruno
Science in Quebec – each discipline has its story
See political science and economics, Psychology, Anthropology and History
What is the Research Process?
There are 8 steps to the research process.
| Step 1 | Choose a topic | 5 W |
| Step 2 | Review the literature | What do we know/ignore? |
| Step 3 | Formulate the problem | Question or Hypothesis |
| Step 4 | Organize research design | Pick and Create the instrument |
| Step 5 | Gather data | Observe and Record |
| Step 6 | Analyze data | Crunch the numbers, facts |
| Step 7 | Interpret data | Compare to flaws, caveats |
| Step 8 | Communicate results | Write article, conference |
Formal theories are used to build steps 1, 2, 3 and 4.
The latter steps aim to verify the validity of the theories with empirical data.
|
What are the Data Collection Methods? |
What are Data Collection Tools? |
| Survey | Questionnaire / Interview |
| Experiment | Laboratory / Questionnaire / Interview / Recordings |
| Field Work | Recordings / Interview / Artifacts |
| Unobtrusive Measurement | Landscape/ Artifacts |
| Content Analysis | Documentation / Media |
|
Available Data |
How Research Begins
Research does not begin in the lab, or in a fieldwork activity. It might begin with a newspaper clipping, a conversation with a colleague, a movie, a book, an observation as a parent, a conversation with your grand-father, etc.…
Personal experience – Nazi Germany, Racial Discrimination, Family Environment, etc. may lead some people who suffered these events to study these topics as researchers.
However, personal experience can also bias your approach. You may misinterpret the ideas and opinions of people that have another age, gender, ethnicity, mother tongue, income, social class, education, etc.
Values of Modern Research
- Objectivity: gathering data honestly, even if discoveries contradict cherished personal beliefs
- Empirical Verification: research does not depend on personal experience, intuition, faith in authority, or tradition to provide answers to their questions.
- Cooperation: science builds on past research (for free) and lays the foundation of future research (for free). Scientists work together on science (for free).
- Transparency of Method: communicate method and results clearly, honestly, and in enough detail that other researchers can fully understand how the research was carried out, and the data interpreted.