Chapter 3 Flashcards
What are two competing Philosphical Perspectives used in science ?
Rationalism & Empiricism
Each of these is a type of Epistemology which is a theory of knowledge that is used to uncover the answer to a question
What are the two stances that nursing has been characterized into ?
- Empriricist, Mechanisitc, quantative & deductive
- Interpretive, holisitic, qualitative and inductive
What is Rationalism ?
Rationalism is a scope of knowledge that uses a priori reasoning which means it used deductive logic by reasoning from a cause to an effect or from generalization to a particular instance
These theoretical assertions that are derived from deductive reasoning are then subjected to ro experimental testing in order to confirm the theory
What was Reynolds view on Rationalism ?
He viewed this thoery as theory-then-research strategy
if the research findings fail to correspond to the theoretical approach then additional research is conducted or modifications are made in the theory and further tests are done otherwise the theory is discarded
“as a continous interplay between theory construction (invention) ad testing empirical research progresses, the theory becomes more precise and complete as a description of nature and therefore more useful for the goals of science”
What is Empiricism ?
The empiricist view is stating that scientific knowledge ca be derived only from sensory experience
What was Bacons view of empiricism ?
Bacon believed that scientific truth was discovered through generalizing obsreved facts in the natural world - this approach is called Inductive Method which is based on the fact that the collection of facts precedes attempts formulate generalizations
How did Reynolds view empiricism ?
He viewed it as research then theory
What were the early 20th century views on science and theory ?
Philosphers focused on the analysis of theory strcuture
Scientists focused on empirical research
Positivism was the dominant view of modern science - modern positivits believed that emiprical research and logical analysis (deductive & inductive) were two approaches that would produce scientific knowledge
Logical Empiricists belived that theoretical propositions must be tested through experimentation & observation - this view depends on the fact that objective truth exists indepedndently and the researcher needs to discover it
What were the emergent views of science and theory in the late 20th century ?
Brown challeneged the view of old science and put forward the idea of focusing on building research rather than focusing on the product - he challenged the empiricist view by stating that theories play a significant role in what is observed and how it is intepreted - the ideas and values of the in the mind of the obsrever matter
An example of this would be a child and a chemist walking past a steel mill, the chemist smells sulfur dioxide while the child smells rotten eggs - this example shows that they both observe a smell but what they interpret is different
Brown stated that it is not only theories are the single determoning factor in a scientists perceptions, he stated the three views:
- Scientists are merely passive observers of occurrences in
the empirical world. Observable data are objective truth
waiting to be discovered. - Theories structure what the scientist perceives in the
empirical world. - Presupposed theories and observable data interact
in the process of scientific investigation.
Browns argument coincides with the scientific consensus of how humans process information; the following minitheories have directed research in this area:
(1) the data-driven, or bottom-up, theory: cognitive expectations are used to select input and process incoming information from the environment
(2) the conceptually driven, or top-down, theory: asserts that incomig data are percieved as unlabaled input and are analyzed as raw data with icreasing levels of complexity until all the data is classified
Research suggests that human pattern recognition is a combiation of the two
What was Browns conclusion regarding science ?
His final view was that science was an ongoing process - it is a myth that science can conclude final truths - it is through evidence that we begin evidence based science
What final conclusion regarding science ?
In any era and in any given discipline, science is structured by an accepted set of presuppositions that define the topic for study and define the best methods for data collection and interpretation
What is the Paradigm Shift that occurs in a discipline in regards to science according to Kuhn?
science progresses from a prescience, to a normal science, to a crisis, to a revolution, and then to a new normal science. Once normal science develops, the process begins again when a crisis erupts and leads to revolution, and a new normal science emerges once again
How are theory and research interdependent ?
In constructing a theory, the theorist must be knowledgeable about available
empirical findings and be able to take these into account because theory is, in part, concerned with organizing and formalizing available knowledge of a given phenomenon.
The theory is subject to revision if hypotheses fail to correspond with empirical findings, or the theory may be abandoned in favor of an alternative explanation that accounts for the new information
Theory should always be judged based on scientific consensus - Theories, procedures, and findings from empirical studies must be made available for critical review by scientists for evidence to be cumulative.
What is required for the acceptance of a scientific theory ?
repeated testing is crucial - the test must be repeated under the same conditions and the theoretical assertion needs to be explored under different conditions or with different measures - therefore conseus is based on accumulated evidence
when the theory does not appear to be supported it is not rejected by the scientific community instead they may make judgements on the validity and reliability
Scientific consensus is necessary in three key areas for any given theory:
(1) agreement on the boundaries of the theory; that is, the phenomenon it addresses and the phenomena it excludes (criterion of coherence)
(2) agreement on the logic used in constructing the theory to further understanding from a similar perspective (criterion of coherence)
(3) agreement that the theory fits the data
collected and analyzed through research
What propositions presented by mishler in regards to behavioural and social sciences like nursing ?
In studying human behavior, researchers should develop methods and procedures that are dependent on context for meaning rather than eliminate context by searching for laws that hold across contexts
Phenomenology which describes how we experience the objects of the external world and provides an explanation of how we construct objects of experience
