Human Sciences

1
Human Sciences
2
Looking at human activities using the methods of
science

• Observation
• Measurement
• Experiments
• Laws

3
Observation

• How do we observe?
• Problems of observing humans
• Watching - Observer effect
• People act differently when others watch/record
• People can act how you label them/copy others
• Do not know why people act, only what they do
• Ask questions/questionnaires
• When answering questions, people are bad at
  self-judgement/knowing their motives
• Questions can be loaded (how well/badly)
• Questionnaire can badly designed (dont knows)
• Samples can be small (a majority/60/6 in 10)

4
Measurement

• How do we measure humans?
• Problems when measuring human emotions/motives/att
  ributes/achievements
• Eg How many happy thoughts do you have a day?
• What is happy?
• What is a thought?
• Is there a unit of thought?
• Can we observe the effects/behaviour instead of
  the emotion/motive etcitself?
• Is it true? Are genes true? Are electrons true?
• Eg Who won the 100th Olympics in 1996?

5
Medals
Rank Country Medals total
1 USA 101
2 Germany 65
3 Russia 63
4 China 50
11 Canada 22
6
Type of Medals
Country Gold Silver Bronze Medals total
USA 44 32 25 101
Germany 20 18 27 65
Russia 26 21 16 63
China 16 22 12 50
Canada 3 11 8 22
7
Interpreted results (gold3, silver2, bronze1)
Country Gold Silver Bronze Points
USA 44 32 25 221
Germany 20 18 27 123
Russia 26 21 16 136
China 16 22 12 104
Canada 3 11 8 39
8
Interpreted results
Country Gold Silver Bronze Points
USA 44 32 25 221
Russia 26 21 16 136
Germany 20 18 27 123
China 16 22 12 104
Canada 3 11 8 39
9
Interpreted results(population)
Rank Country Points per million
1 Tonga 20
2 Bahamas 6.6
3 Cuba 4.6
25 Canada 1.3
37 USA 0.9
10
Measurement

• How do we measure humans?
• Problems with ethical considerations
• What is the value of a human life?
• When do we need a value?
• Are we all equally valuable?
• Eg Who gets treatment in a pandemic?

11
Measurement

• Which of these human properties are easy to
  measure? How would you measure them?

• Weight
• Brand loyalty
• Temperature
• Social class
• Inflation

• Intelligence
• Sadness
• Reading ability
• Progress
• Age