POLI 311 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Empirical Evidence, Scientific Method, Intersubjectivity
2 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Empiricism: systemaic observaion of the world around us to verify conclusions of our inquiries. Oten these observaions are indirect for example, democracy in intangible and therefore not directly observable. We assume our own senses give us the most reliable informaion and that it"s the only non- subjecive way of gaining knowledge. The scieniic method works best when you assume objecivity isn"t possible. This helps us build in more safeguards against subjecivity so that our biases do not afect our results. Inter-subjecivity: knowledge claims must be transmissible, meaning that the process must be public. The process should be clearly stated so others can understand exactly what you did. Another scepical researcher should be able to reach the same results if they use the same method. It"s ime- consuming and expensive with few professional incenives. There is a movement towards making replicability more important; now journals require data sets when they publish research, making it easier for other researchers to atempt replicaion.
