CRIM 2653 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Hurricane Katrina, Critical Role, Pharmaceutical Industry
2653 week 2 Schulenberg. Chapter 1: What is Scientific Inquiry? Pp. 2-31. (33 pages)
Textbook notes
● Types of knowledge
● Authority knowledge
● An expert or authority could be your professor textbook author parents politicians
scientists or even the media
● A figures can make a claim to knowledge that becomes true by virtue of their
experience expertise or credentials
● The person's status influences our judgement on the truth of knowledge
● For example adults telling kids santa is real even without evidence this is due to their
authority
● Even well respected scientists and philosophers can be wrong but we may
automatically just assume they are right due to their position
● Tradition
● Knowledge based on tradition is grounded in the psat
● Something is true because it has always been believed or done a certain way
● A facet of tradition is provincialism the tendency to ignore or disparage knowledge
and viewpoints from cultures other than one's own
● Our cultural perspective impacts our acceptance or rejection of facts and theories
regardless of the evidence presented
● This practice can be manifested by accepting rigid ideological beliefs or adopting
popular or politically correct views
● Death penalty is a good example of this
● Common sense
● Common sense knowledge
● Is based on orignary reasoning commonly accepted by others in society
● Arguably plays a critical role in our lives
● Institution is a powerful source of knowledge bt it does not meet the scientific
standards required to have confidence in the claims veracity
● The first variant is gut feeling logic like at the casinos and someone says they will win
more
● The second variant of common knowledge os idiomatic expressions
● Consider the expression opposites attract
● We often refer to this saying when we talk about two seemingly different individuals
● Who are in what appears to be a successful personal relationship
● To support common sense logic we must support these claims with claims scientific
evidence
● Legends and myths
● Legends are stories that relate to a particular group of people and are popularly
accepted as historical and true.
● Myhs are unproven or false collective beliefs used as evidence
● Example
● After hurricane katrina the media said there was a increase in property crime etc
there was no such thing
● It was founded that the media painted the refugees in a negative manner thus
houston residents developed an unfounded distrust of the evacuees
● The csi effect
● This concept captures sch shows exaggerated portrayal of forensic science labs as
producing findings very quickly and always get the criminal
● As a result trial juries have made greater demands for forensic evidence in order to
eliminate reasonable doubt
● This is a myth and misrepresented the criminal process
● Personal experience
● Our personal experiences shape who we are and who we become
● However they can distort reality and our ability to reason impartially about the
relationship between our experiences and those of others
● Four ways our personal experiences can lead us astray
● Generalization
● Premature conclusion
● Selective observation
● And the halo effect
● The halo effect is a predisposition to admire all actions and words of a person based
o the perception of a distinguished quality demonstrated in the past
● Like admiring an athlete who is super good at this so you just take their word since
they are admirable in that aspect for something they have done
● Scientific knowledge
● As previously explained the scientific method is the way we gain understanding and
test other forms of knowledge
● The book is about using the scientific method to create knowledge.
● At this juncture several characteristics are integral to understanding
● How scientific knowledge differs from those we have already discussed
● Prediction and explanation based on theory. Predictions are made to explain the
social world
● Systematic observation and empiricism: using the five senses as predicted by theory
data on events and behaviors are collected
● Scientific reasoning: using rationality and logic a theory or model is created based on
the findings(knowledge)
● Transparency: the research process is documented and so that another person could
conduct the study again
● Provisional: the results are analyzed by other researchers for limitations and
alternative explanations
● The difference between ideology and theory
● Ideological explanations are presented with absolute certainty, purport to have all
answers are fixed and closed and avoid tests of the idea dismiss contradictory
evidence are typically linked to specific moral beliefs provide particle explanations
are inconsistent and advocate for a specific position
● They are quasi theoretical explanations that lack several elements of scientific
theories that increase the legitimacy of a knowledge claim
● Cannot be proven wrong thus new evidence are not amenable to modification on the
basis of new contradictory evidence
● Conclusions are formed from selective observation but also rely largely on personal
experiences or overgeneralization and premature closure
● “All ideologies are just words, abstractions used for particular political social and
economical purposes”
● Contrasts with theories as conclusions that are incomplete and lacking are often
calling for modification and solutions but ideologies lack this and simply leave
incomplete conclusions
● Lacking neutrality
● Logical consistency
● And often align with politics and social positions
●Theory
● Theorises organize observations of the world and allow researchers to predict what
will happen in the future under certain conditions
● No guarantee that future work will support past claims and thus are always building
upon each other
● Characteristics
● Advancement of scientific knowledge, including sufficient, description, precision in
spefriciying ideas,interpretability,internal consistency and clear and specific
predictions
● Theories are falsifiable, parsimonious and serendipitous; they contain breadth on the
subject and are amenable to applications or testing in the real world
● Some qualities which are integral to distinguishing theory from ideology
● Falsifiability
● A theory is falsifiable when research questions are structured so that the data
collected can invalidate or modify a theoretical assertion unlike quasi theories such
as ideologies scientific theories use empirical research methods in the development
of theoretical statements
● “A theory which is not refutable by any conceivable event is non scientific: as it is not
testable or falsifiable
● Thus the status of a theory rests with it falsifiability represents a characteristic of the
scientific community known as skepticism
● This means that researchers and theorists are open to challenges and that findings
are seen as provisional
● Theory ideas are scrutinized to ensure that the research methods and ideas within
the theory are congruent with scientific standards such as falsifiability
● When a researchers submits an article to a scholarly journal this article is sent out to
three other scholars and it is peer reviewed
● These reviews often evaluate links between previous literature research questions,
research methods analytical techniques data interpretation and conclusions
● These acceptance rates can be 5%, often told to revise and resubmit
● Several warning sizes that indicate a closer link between ideology and a concern
regarding the veracity of the claims to knowledge
● 1. The theoretical statements and research findings are initially released to the
media. The integrity of research depends on exposing ideas and findings to vetting
by the scientific community,
● An attempt to bypass the peer review process suggests that the research might not
measure up to the theoretical and methodological standards of the scientific
community
● 2. The researcher claims that a powerful entity in industry or government is trying to
suppress the research findings. There have been cases, particularly in respect to
medical research sponsored by pharma companies, where such a claim has been
Document Summary
An expert or authority could be your professor textbook author parents politicians. A figures can make a claim to knowledge that becomes true by virtue of their scientists or even the media experience expertise or credentials. The person"s status influences our judgement on the truth of knowledge. For example adults telling kids santa is real even without evidence this is due to their authority. Even well respected scientists and philosophers can be wrong but we may automatically just assume they are right due to their position. Knowledge based on tradition is grounded in the psat. Something is true because it has always been believed or done a certain way. A facet of tradition is provincialism the tendency to ignore or disparage knowledge and viewpoints from cultures other than one"s own. Our cultural perspective impacts our acceptance or rejection of facts and theories.
