UAPP 702: Research Methods for Urban & Public Policy Class Notes, Meeting 1 Danilo Yanich Center for Community Research & Service School of Public Policy & Administration University of Delaware

How do we know what we know? Epistemology the science of knowing Methodology the science of finding out

Inquiry is a natural human activity Looking for reality is tricky business Reality is “up for grabs” Reality is “nothing but a collective hunch” Many ways to explain unknown Revelation Logic Empiricism

Definition or Explanation of order Coercion Shared values Exchange Each definition has fundamental implications for “knowing” the phenomenon

Methodology—science of finding out Looking for regularity Language of ordinary discourse vs language of science

Looking for reality Assertion must have logical and empirical support It must make sense and not contradict actual observation Dark side of moon is cold

Problem tree Cause and effect Logic vs empiricism vs revelation Importance of research to UA & PP Evaluation vs non-evaluation research

Ubiquity of research Either producer or consumer of research or both Take a look at today’s newspaper to see how many reports of “scientific” studies are reported

“Would you want your kid to be a journalist?”* Give findings… *Poll reported in Columbia Journalism Review, Sept/Oct. 1999

Then states the limitations in sidebar These findings report the views of 91 editors and news directors from print and broadcast media who responded to a questionnaire sent by fax on July 15. Responses received through July 28 were tabulated. The Columbia Journalism Review drew the names from membership lists of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the American Society of Magazine Editors, the Radio-Television News Directors Association, the Associated Press Managing Editors, and the National Association of Black Journalists. This survey is based upon a non-random, self-selected sample. The results represent the views of those who chose to respond to the survey; they are not generalizable to the journalist population as a whole. They failed to add: “Apart from these major flaws, it’s a cool poll”.