WEEK 1
H1: Methods for acquiring knowledge
1.1 Introduction to research methodology
Reasons for taking a research methods course
- Conducting a study
- Reading and evaluating other people’s studies
- Understanding brief descriptions of studies
- Gathering and evaluating information in your daily life
1.2 Methods of knowing and acquiring knowledge
= Ways in which a person can know things or discover answers to questions
- Method of tenacity
= Information is accepted as true because it has always been believed or because
superstition supports it.
- Method of intuition
= Information is accepted based on a hunch or “gut feeling”
- Method of authority
= A person relies on information or answers from an expert in the subject area
o Method of faith
= a variant of the method of authority in which people have unquestioning
trust in the authority figure and, therefore, accept information from the
authority without doubt or challenge
- The rational method/ Rationalism
= seeks answers using logical reasoning
In logical reasoning, premise statements describe facts or assumptions that are
presumed to be true.
An argument is a set of premise statements that are logically combined to yield a
conclusion
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