Key Ideas in Geography

GEOG 10191 – Key Ideas in Geography
Week 1 – How Do We Know
 Definition of science – the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the
systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world
through observation and experiment
 Definition of knowledge – facts, information and skills acquired through experience
or education, the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject
Knowledge
 Knowledge is created by collecting evidence, such as measurement, observation,
previous research on a topic (analysis), experience and memory
Ontology
 Ontology is the about existence, being and our relationship with reality
 There are two aspects about ontology:
- An objective reality – there’s a reality “out there” which science can measure or
observe
- A subjective reality – reality is mediated (bring about) by our own subjective
experience and social constructions that we can rarely or if ever observe or measure
a truly objective reality “out there”
 Physical and social scientist tend to assume an objective reality, but social scientist
(due to the nature of their research) tend to place more emphasis on human
subjectivities in the process of knowledge creation




Epistemology
 Epistemology is concerned with the nature of knowledge and how it can be acquired
 Most scientist believe that observation and measurement can accurately record
reality “out there”. This approach is based on the ontological belief of an objective
reality

,  Some believe any objective reality is mediated by society and our own subjectivity
(e.g. emotions and biases). As no scientist can escape their subjective experience.
Therefore, to be rigorous there should be space for doubt




Assumptions
 Scientists make assumptions in order to move forward, in which those assumptions
can be correct if done so rigorously
How we know
 We know through using scientific methods:
1) Conduct research into a topic, with background reading of previous research
2) Construct research questions/hypotheses
3) Make ontological and epistemological assumptions
4) Collect evidence to test hypotheses and to answer research questions
5) Create theories and concept as a foundation for future research
6) Repeat the process until everything is known
Theory
 Definition of theory – a supposition (belief) or a system of ideas intended to explain
something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be
explained

,Concept
 Definition of concept – an abstract idea
 Concepts can help us better understand the world
 Concepts allow us to abstract (zoom out) from that’s in front of us in order to look at
the bigger picture of how things relate to each other
 The real world informs concepts and in turn concepts inform our understanding of
the world
 Some concepts are abstract, such as space, nature and power. These concepts can
inform research and how we think about the world, and in return can change the
world, such as the concept of the rise in nationalism which can provoke protest to
push against that
 The ability to think conceptually is a highly cognitive ability, in which only humans
and a few animals have this ability, as concepts can be relatively simple or complex
(e.g. family to space)
Geography’s key concepts
 Space/interconnections, power & resistance, scale, mobility, sustainability, nature,
borders, the urban and landscape
 All of these concepts have in common a spatial element, about how features are
arranged on the earth’s surface
Scientific trends
 Science isn’t static. There are trends in science and this is known as paradigms
 A paradigm can be thought of as the combined working assumptions, procedures,
practices and findings that’s routinely accepted by a group of researchers that
defined a stable scientific community
 A paradigm is a dominant approach to science an there’s many paradigms:
- Positivism – refers to collecting empirical evidence (observable phenomena) as basis
for knowledge. It involves using mathematical analysis of data when possible and
identifying patterns to deduce casual relations. It’s often associated with quantitative
methods of surveying and measuring with scientific methods. Positivism is an
approach used by most physical and many human geographers
- Critical rationalism – was designed to improve positivism. Critical rationalism is about
rigorously testing research through the method of falsification, which involve
focusing on looking for evidence that challenges a hypothesis
Wide range of scientific approaches
 Structuralism – focuses on underlying structures that underlie event, e.g. capitalism
(is societal structure that explains how certain elements operate and explain
economic inequality) and patriarchy (to explain the structure of main dominance of
male in society)

,  Social constructionism – views knowledge as the product of social lives and practices,
e.g. the concept of family is a social construction, in which the concept has changed
overtime, such as nuclear family to now a various variety of family
 Phenomenology – views the subjective experience of individuals as the main focus
 Post-structuralism – challenges the notion of any singular truth or knowledge claim
In conclusion
 Be aware of our assumptions in which we all make; no science is ever completely
neutral or objective
 The type of evidence/data that scientist use will depend on research questions and
hypotheses
 Theories are statements about the relations between things
 Concepts allows us to look at the bigger picture of how things relate to each other
 No type of evidence is better than another. The quality of the evidence and its fit
with the research question is the determining factors. Both quantitative and
qualitative data are valid type of data


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