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Unit 3 Scientific Method and Knowledge Generation

1. List the sources of knowledge.

Various sources of knowledge are: 

• Life experiences, 

• Authority, 

• Customs and traditions, 

• Deductive reasoning, and 

• Inductive reasoning.

2. What is syllogism?

A syllogism can be described as a thinking process in which one proceeds from general to specific statements by deductive thinking. It provides a means of testing the validity of any given conclusion or idea by proceeding from known to unknown. 

3. Define the scientific method.

The scientific method is a back-and-forth movement of thought in which one first operates inductively from partially known or sometimes confused information learned from experience, previous knowledge, observation and so on towards a meaningful whole or hypothesis, and then deductively from suggested whole or hypothesis to the particular parts in order to connect these with one another in a meaningful pattern to find relationships. 

4. List the steps of scientific method.

The five important steps of scientific method are: 

i) Identification and definition of the problem, 

ii) Formulation of a hypothesis, 

iii) Testing and implication of hypothesis through deductive reasoning, 

iv) Collection and analysis of evidence data, and 

v) Verification, rejection, or modification of hypothesis. 

5. What is positivistic paradigm?

Positivistic paradigm of knowledge generation is based on the philosophical ideas of the French Philosopher, Auguste Comte, who considered observation and reason as the means of understanding human behaviour. In this approach all genuine knowledge is based on sense experience and can be only advanced by means of observation and experiment. It has been described as a 'tough-minded orientation to facts and natural phenomena'.

6. List the limitations of the positivistic paradigm. 

The following are the limitations of Positivistic Paradigm: 

(i) The theoretical perspective which has dominated the positivistic paradigm seeks the facts or causes of social phenomena with little regard for the subjective states of individuals, 

(ii) In positivistic paradigm social facts or social phenomena are considered to be the things that exercise an external and coercive influence on human behaviour, 

(iii) The positivist searches for facts and causes through methods such as survey, questionnaire, etc. which produce quantitative data. It allows him to statistically prove relationships between operationally defined variables, thus reducing human behaviour to statistical aggregates, 

(iv) Positivistic paradigm presents a misleading picture of the human being because it concentrates on the repetitive, predictable and invariants of the person (i.e. on his visible externalities) to the exclu9ion of the subjective world. It ignores the world in which the meanings are developed by active subjects through their life experiences, and 

(v) The positivist puts more effort in scientific experimentation which are likely to end up with a pruned, synthetic and constructed version of the whole social reality. 

7. Name at least three field methods.

The three types of field methods are: 

(i) Case study method, 

(ii) Projective techniques, and 

(iii) Anecdotal records.