Scientific Research Statements Quiz

Types of Statements in Scientific Research

• Consensual statements refer to external phenomena that are observable and require little elaboration to convey their meaning.
• The use of consensual statements in research is crucial for formulating testable hypotheses in science and empiricism.
• Nonconsensual statements refer to phenomena that are not directly observable and require inferences or interpretations.
• Nonconsensual statements can be interpretive/inferential (referring to people's states of mind and emotions) or evaluative (conveying values, choices, or preferences).
• Interpretive/inferential statements often involve inferring emotions, intentions, and motivations, and are frequently used by qualitative researchers.
• Operational definitions, specifying how variables will be measured, are used to manage ambiguity in interpretive/inferential statements.
• Evaluative statements convey value-based assessments or judgments and often require additional explanation for clarity.
• Both interpretive and evaluative statements may contain consensual language to support their claims.
• Critical readers should be aware of the different language types used in research and be conscious of the language used in their own research projects.
• The accuracy of both consensual and interpretive statements is a separate question that can be addressed through research.
• Research results must be interpreted and evaluated to complete assessments, as observations or numbers never speak for themselves.
• Language types in research are often a matter of degree, and it's essential to be mindful of the language used in designing, executing, and reporting on research projects.

Principles of Scientific Inquiry

• Scientists are skeptical and question commonly accepted knowledge, relying on scientific evidence but viewing it with reservation.
• Skepticism is a principle of science that requires researchers to search for disconfirming evidence and continue questioning their conclusions and knowledge.
• Ethical neutrality is a principle that requires scientists to avoid letting moral or ethical beliefs influence their data gathering or analysis.
• Scientists are concerned only with what is true or false, not what is right or wrong, good or bad.
• Parsimony is a principle requiring that, among equally strong explanations, the simplest one is preferred.
• Determinism, the belief that every event is preceded by one or more events that cause it to occur, is a matter of controversy in the philosophy of science.
• Publication of research reports serves the function of disseminating new knowledge, providing detail for critique, and allowing replication by others.
• The hope is that critical appraisal of research by colleagues and other parties can help identify biases and explore their impacts in subsequent research.
• Publication of research reports includes theory, research design, research questions or hypotheses, subject selection, data-gathering instruments and/or strategies, data analysis, findings, and the researchers’ interpretations of those results.
• The principle of determinism assumes that connections exist among events in the real world, but some philosophers suspect that a probabilistic principle may be more appropriate.
• The probabilistic principle holds that the best we can hope for in the physical or social sciences is a statement that there is some probability that event x is connected to event y.
• The hope is that by subjecting the research to the critical appraisal of colleagues and other interested parties, at least some of the possible biases can be identified and their impacts explored in subsequent research.

Understanding Theories in Scientific Research

• Theories in scientific research have assumptions that may apply to individuals or collectives, early or later stages of human behavior, and certain geographic areas.
• Misapplication of theories can lead to highly suspect and often invalid findings in studies.
• Theories may differ in scope, integration, and empirical verification.
• Some theories have a narrow range of phenomena, while others are broader in scope.
• Integration of theories varies, with some consisting of a loose collection of concepts and others being tightly linked with logical propositions.
• The level of empirical verification supports whether scientists accept a theoretical statement as true.
• Both theory and research are essential in the scientific pursuit of knowledge, with meaningful research being guided by a theory.
• A theory operates at a conceptual level and is not data, fact, truth, or an empirical finding.
• The relationship between theory and research is dynamic, with research evidence leading to changes in theory and subsequent testing.
• Using theory in scientific research provides logical explanations for phenomena, makes sense of previous studies, guides future research, and contributes to overall knowledge in a field of study.
• There are limitations to using theories in research, such as oversimplifying explanations and the possibility that reality may be more complex than the theory designed to explain.
• Researchers must be aware that a theory may not be the only explanation for a phenomenon, and reality can be more complex than a theory is designed to explain.

Sociological Perspectives on Crime, Scientific Methodology, and Critiques

• Sociological theories suggest that crime is influenced by negative community-level factors such as high crime rates, poor neighborhoods, and unjust laws.
• Empirical testing of propositions in these theories requires a specific scientific methodology.
• The scientific methodology for testing propositions follows principles of empiricism, objectivity, tentativeness, skepticism, ethical neutrality, and replication.
• The relationship among theory, research, and methodology is integral in confirming or disconfirming empirically testable propositions.
• Critiques of the scientific perspective include critical theory, feminism, and postmodernism, focusing on social hierarchies, gender roles, and the subjective nature of scientific study.
• The scientific perspective emphasizes the tentative nature of scientific knowledge and strategies to overcome human observers' shortcomings.
• Although science has been used to justify social injustice, it does not invalidate the legitimacy or substance of science itself.
• The scientific perspective offers significant advantages in pursuing questions for which the scientific approach is appropriate.
• There are doubts about the adequacy of the critics' alternative theory of meaning, as it may be as flawed as the correspondence theory.
• Adopting a pragmatic approach is considered the best way to manage the issues surrounding scientific perspectives.
• Scientific research laws may be inherent patterns in external reality or creations of the human mind, possibly a combination of both.
• The critique of science can make researchers more self-critical, open to alternative interpretations, and humble in claims to knowledge, emphasizing the importance of the scientific perspective's applications for knowledge and justice.