How is knowledge gained in the human sciences? ‘"Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables, the organism will do as it darn well pleases." Anonymous ToK Human Sciences How is knowledge gained in the human sciences?

Knowledge in the human sciences. The human sciences are the study of societies and individuals, are based on observation, and seek to apply laws and theories to human behaviour. …but how do you design an experiment to test human behaviour?

Designing a Social Experiment Read the document ‘Twelve tips for happier workplace.’ The author writes about a survey to be used by employers and business owners to gain knowledge about their employees and link this to productivity in the workplace. How do you think this survey was researched and designed? What are some of the limitations or shortcomings of this survey? How would you go about creating a similar survey for QASMT?

Natural Sciences Human Sciences Accurate measurements. There does not always seem to be agreement even on the observations on which the laws are based.   Repeatability. In many areas it is impossible to perform experiments, because the situations are not repeatable. General laws: ''Whenever conditions C hold, event E will occur.'' The predictions made on the basis of the laws are often rather vague and open to interpretation -- the laws are 'bendy'. Falsifiability. The observations are in many cases only statistical and descriptive of tendencies, and so cannot be used to refute theories. Contrary evidence can always be explained away as an exception. Objectivity. Theories in the social sciences seem to reflect personal opinions and prevailing ideologies, so they are not value free. KNOWLEDGE GAINS IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES KNOWLEDGE GAINS IN THE HUMAN SCIENCES

Positivist vs. Interpretist Approach The way we approach epistemology in the human sciences is continually debated (i.e. how we know what we know about humans). Positivism Interpretism It is possible to know objective truths (facts) about human interaction It is impossible to know objective truths about human interaction as all social research is subjective.

Positivist Approach Positivists believe it is possible to use objective facts to establish laws of human behaviour in the same way as the natural sciences. The assumption is that if social research is conducted in a manner that is scientifically rigorous, it will be possible to predict the outcomes of human interaction in the same way the natural sciences can predict the outcome from the combination of two chemicals.

Methods of Natural Sciences Study what we can measure and observe Positivist Ideas Methods of Natural Sciences Study what we can measure and observe Discover causal relationships Objective facts Quantitative research Experimentation

Positivist Approach Read the documents ‘Data for the Social Sciences’ and ‘Econoclass – Statistics can be misleading’. Can the human sciences be accurately quantified? What are some of the shortcomings? How can these be addressed?

Positivist Approach Read the video ‘The Strange Powers of the Placebo Effect’. What further problems for the positivist approach does this pose? What explanations does the video offer for why placebos work? How is it possible to become addicted to placebos? How does the UK government use the placebo effect in terms of health policy-making? Is this advisable in your opinion?

Interpretist Approach Interpretists believe in recognising that they are making value judgements during social research, thus can never be truly objective. These value judgements are based on things like prior knowledge, values, previously held theories, beliefs, feelings and even intuition. These are all things of value and interpretists believe that they have a constructive role to play in social research.

Recognition of value judgements Recognition of personal viewpoints Interpretist Ideas Recognition of value judgements Recognition of personal viewpoints Qualitative research Reason and motives from meaning and emotions Reality is too complicated to understand by numbers Recognition of cultural and societal differences

There is quite a bit to factor in to research in the human sciences… Leadership There is quite a bit to factor in to research in the human sciences… Anxiety Wealth How do you measure… Intelligence Measurement Varied, unpredictable, affected by impressions Public opinion Money PROBLEMS FACED BY SOCIAL SCIENTISTS Social class Definitions Human Subjects Poverty How do you define… Ethics Value Judgements Subjects can be hurt, frightened, humiliated, complain How do we eliminate the values of the observer?

Human Sciences Journal Task Respond to one or more of the following stimuli “As soon as questions of will or decision or reason or choice of action arise, human science is at a loss.” Noam Chompsky “The only possible conclusion the social sciences can draw is: some do, some don’t” Ernest Rutherford “As long as there are entrenched social and political distinctions between sexes, races or classes, there will be forms of science whose main function is to rationalise and legitimise these distinctions.” Elizabeth Fee “Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, humidity, and other variables, the organism will do exactly as it pleases” (Anon).