Science, Common Sense and Ways of Knowing

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Science, Common Sense and Ways of Knowing

• S. Kathleen Kitao
• Kenji Kitao
• Keywords ways of knowing the methods of
  tenacity, experience, authority, reason, science
  selection control avoiding the metaphysical

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• will discuss
• different types of knowledge, based on how we
  know what we believe we know
• how scientific knowledge is different from and
  similar to what most people think of as common
  sense
• how scientists approach research

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Ways of Knowing

• the method of tenacity
• the method of experience
• the method of authority
• the method of reason
• the method of science

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• The Method of Tenacity
• we tend to hold firmly to something we believe to
  be true, just because we have always believed it
• some religious beliefs
• superstition
• experience can lead to beliefs held through the
  method of tenacity

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• The Method of Experience
• what we learn though experience
• relationships among people
• how the world works
• difficult to know if your experiences are typical

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• The Method of Authority
• we believe something because someone in authority
  tells us it is true
• includes a great deal of what we know
• printed materials carry particular authority
• However, we need to keep in mind that just
  because something is in print, this does not
  necessarily make it true.
• Using the method of authority is necessary in
  many areas, because we cannot always test every
  fact personally or check original sources.

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• The Method of Reason
• based on what seems reasonable or on common
  sense
• The problem is that if two different positions
  seem reasonable, it is difficult to decide
  between them.

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• Example
• Joes position
• The more money spent on education, the better
  education will be, so the way to improve
  education is to spend more money.
• Sandras position
• some ways of spending money will not improved
  education, such as higher salaries of
  administrators
• there are ways of improving education without
  spending money, such as by involving parents in
  education
• We cannot choose between their positions by
  reason alone.

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• The Method of Science
• a way of looking objectively at knowledge, so
  that anyone who looks at it will see it in the
  same way
• The basic, underlying belief of this method of
  knowing is that we need to test what we believe
  we know.
• Research -- scientists make studies to test what
  they think they know
• One advantage -- self-correcting
• One researcher publishes result of research
• Other researchers read it and do studies to
  support or contradict it

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• Relationship between method of science and method
  of reason
• Science may be based in reason, but it also
  depends on testing conclusions
• Library research
• find out what other researchers have studied and
  learned
• what theorists believe
• secondary research, used to help the research
  decide what he/she wants to study

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• Two types of research
• experimental research
• the researcher makes some change and studies the
  effects of the change
• non-experimental research
• researcher studies a situation as it is, either
  at one point in time or over time

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• Differences Between Common Sense and Science
• Selecting
• researchers are careful how they choose the
  people they study
• Population and sample
• A population is all of the people that the
  researcher is interested in, that is, all the
  people to whom the researcher wants to generalize
  the study.
• A sample is the people that the researcher
  actually studies.

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• Control
• Control involves a situation where other possible
  causes can be eliminated.
• Avoiding the Metaphysical
• Scientists avoid explanations that cannot be
  tested.