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Psychology 243 content summary
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METHODS OF ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGEIn order for society to progress, new knowledge about the world must constantly be generated. This
involves the process of formulating specific questions and finding answers to them in order to better
understand ourselves and our environment. The study of ways of knowing about the world is called
epistemology. There are both scientific and non-scientific epistemological approaches (methods of
acquiring knowledge).
NON-SCIENTIFIC METHODS
1. Method of Authority:
In this method, we rely on the knowledge and “wisdom” of prominent people who are recognised as
having a better grasp of their environment than ordinary people, e.g. religious leaders, politicians,
elderly people, kings in feudal societies, technocrats, etc. Thus, the statements of these ‘qualified’
people are rarely challenged or questioned. However, this method allows individuals who have been
placed in such a position of authority to hide the superficiality of their knowledge, its underlying
ideologies, and any weaknesses in judgment (ex: ’x is true because, I, the president, say so’).
2. Mystical Method
This is a variation of the method of authority, In this method, the correctness of the knowledge is
assumed to reside in supernatural source(s). ‘Knowledge producers’ are the authority figures and are
seen as such due to their ability to transmit the truth or knowledge imparted to them by supernatural
forces, e.g. However, like the method of authority, the mystical method tends to lose influence when
better, alternative methods can be found.
3. Intuitive Method
People sometimes make judgements about the world based on a gut feeling, or what ‘feels right’ to
them. They might not be able to their feelings but they have great faith in their instincts/intuition.
However, this method depends on the individual and their own understanding of the issue. It is not
transparent and cannot be clearly/easily communicated to others. As such, decisions and
conclusions arrived at by the intuitive method are not easily replicable.
4. Conventional Wisdom
This is a variation of the intuitive method. Conventional wisdom reflects “common sense”
understandings of the world that are commonly accepted as being true. However, these statements,
being very general, are often contradictory. For example, the statement “out of sight, out of mind”
directly contradicts the statement “absent makes the heart grow fonder.” There is no systematic way
of determining which of these two statements is accurate.
5. The Rationalistic Method
This method is based on human reason. It assumes that human beings have the ability to think
logically, and thus to discover laws through purely intellectual processes (ex: pure mathematics). It
is correct reasoning which enable ones to know what must be true by principle. Observation of
reality, collection of facts, and human senses are unnecessary. However, while this method has been
successful in the natural sciences, it has made little progress in the social sciences.
6. The Empirical Method
, METHODS OF ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE
Contrary to the rationalistic method, the empirical method where facts observed in nature are the
foundation of knowledge. Knowledge is based on only what is observable/perceived by our senses.
For an extreme empiricist, knowledge stops here. Interpretations and speculations of/about
observations introduce subjectivity and are therefore seen as distortions of the data.
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
The scientific method is a synthesis of the rationalistic method and the empirical method. To
understand how the scientific method integrates these two methods, the process of knowing must be
examined.
In the case of Quantitative Research:
1. An accurate description of the object, relationship or situation (empirical) is made.
2. An explanation or statement of the relationship between the described facts is then expressed
(rationalistic) leading to the formation of a natural or social law. The law must be tested against
reality as perceived by human sense.
3. A prediction of future events under well-defined conditions should be permitted by the stated
explanation.
4. Intelligent intervention, based on correct explanations leading to the ability to predict events.
In the case of Qualitative Research:
Researcher concentrates on observation and recording of events, thus very little is known about the
situation under observation. Therefore, no a priori explanations (knowledge that we can have "prior
to experience”) are given. No expectations or predictions can be tested. All explanations are a
posteriori (knowledge that we can have only after we have certain experiences) and will be found at
the end, on the basis of the data collection and analysis.
The scientific method assumes the following:
1. The existence of natural and social laws— science presumed order and regularity in natural and
social events. These laws are assumed to exist, independently of the observer and they describe
the way phenomena interact or social events occur.
2. Laws can be discovered by human beings— scientific research assumed that, although human
beings are part of nature and are themselves subject to its laws, they can discover those laws.
3. Natural phenomena have natural causes— no supernatural powers are necessary to grasp the
cause of events. Scientific understandings are based on parsimony of ideas. Parsimony requires
that explanations for phenomena be based on as few assumptions as possible (if both a complex
and a simple explanation exist for an observation, then the simple one is superior).
4. New knowledge is accumulated gradually & sequentially— invention of new instruments of
investigation to studying a problem can lead to new advances in science.
5. Knowledge and truth are founded on evidence— there are specific and commonly accepted
rules that need to be adhered for something to constitute evidence (ex: sensory observations). In
the absence of evidence, claims remain at the level of conjecture or hypothesis.
6. Scientific statements must be distinguished from common sense statements— common sense
statements are the result of non-scientific observations in that they do not take into
consideration the different variables at stake.
7. Scientific observation is objective— the more accurate a description is, stating measurable
properties, for instance, the greater the objectivity of the observation.
8. Scientific observation is systematic— all possibilities are considered one at a time, in a logical
order.
, METHODS OF ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE
Unfortunately, it is not always possible to observe every phenomenon or all of its aspects
systematically. Often some characteristics are unknown and, as a result, the prediction may not be
accurate. Explanations that concede some uncertainty are called probabilistic explanations.
The characteristics of scientific research are:
1. Empirical— each step is based on observation. Scientists attempt to understand the world
beyond their personal biases and assumptions using quantitative methods.
2. Systematic and logical—observation must be done systematically and following a logical order.
3. Replicable and transmittable— any one placed in exactly the same circumstances can observe
the same event and by reasoning, arrive at the same explanation and prediction.
4. Reductive— by grasping the main relationships between laws, the complexity of reality is
reduced. All details which are not essential or which have little influence on the process under
investigation are omitted. Reductionism is the method of considering only the essential and
necessary properties, variables or aspects of a problem, has to be used with great care as it can
lead to significant bias in the research process.
5. Falsifiable— scientific claim must be stated in a way that can be demonstrated to be false. If
things that should not happen do in fact happen, then we have a clear indication that the theory
is wrong/untenable.
, METHODS OF ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE
CHAPTER 2 Scientific Method Applied to Social Reality
THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN NATURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Natural sciences investigate the properties and laws of natural phenomena, e.g. astronomy,
geometry, mechanics, etc. The development of natural sciences is at times determined by the needs
of production, commerce and industry. On the other hand, social sciences investigate the properties
and laws of social phenomena, e.g. psychology, sociology, etc. The development of social sciences
has its roots in the need for understanding, management and manipulation of social affairs.
The development of both types of science depends on the needs, values, aspirations and other
characteristics of the particular society in which it takes place. Social sciences, however, are much
more affected by some aspects of the society than are the natural sciences. Furthermore, for social
sciences, the actual objects of investigation and research problems can introduce new
methodological challenges. For ethical reasons, for instance, some experiments cannot be done on
human beings and some variables cannot be controlled. A physicist can express the laws of
electricity with a formula and predict with certainty when a light bulb will glow, but a sociologist,
on the other hand, can only predict that, under certain circumstances, unemployment leads to an
increase in crime. Generally, there are so many uncontrolled factors due to the complexity of social
reality that exact laws can rarely be found and most results are expressed as probability statements.
However, the differences between natural and social sciences demand an adjustment of the natural
sciences’ research methods to social reality. The methods and techniques must be modified and
adapted according to the characteristics of social processes, but they are the correct ones for a
successful understanding of social issues and the building of theories.
Some reluctance to consider social disciplines as sciences extends from the analysis of some
failures of the empirical, scientific approach to the extreme of denying the existence of laws in
social reality.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FACTS AND THEORY
A fact is an indisputable set of statements about reality. A theory may be defined as a set of ideas or
statements that explain a particular social phenomenon. There are different forms of acquiring
knowledge:
- Perceptual knowledge; information about the environment perceived through our senses. Only
external, superficial relations between information acquired by our senses can be known.
Perception, on its own, falls short of true knowledge.
- Rational knowledge: based on judgment and logical thought, it provides explanations or reasons
for the relationships between observations.
The combination of observation and the process of logical thought provide a deeper understanding
of the world. Thus, a description of facts can only be complete when both the direct information
given by our senses and the deeper understanding based on reasoning and judgement are taken into
account. There is a fundamental relationship between facts about the world and theory (an
explanatory framework).
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