2 – 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.