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Honors Workshop
Methods of Inquiry across Disciplines
This outline presents considerations for
your reflections on the research talks this semester. Note that the very nature of research varies across
disciplines. Consider the purpose for
the inquiry as well as the method and type of data (or evidence) employed.
Inquiry and Reasoning
- Inductive
- Bottom up
- ObservationàPatternsàHypothesisàTheory
- Open-ended and exploratory
- Roger Bacon
- Deductive
- Top down
- TheoryàHypothesisàObservationàConfirmation
- Focused and confirmatory
- Renee Descartes
Methods:
General
- Ideographic
- Unique perspective
- Interpretation, within entity
- Nomothetic
- Search for underlying principles to be
generalized
- Samples representative of larger populations
Types of data and
analysis. These are not
mutually exclusive
- Qualitative
- Text, verbal interpretations or reports
- Often open ended
- Rich analysis
- Often associated with Ideographic questions
- Quantitative
- Behavior
- Often constrained
- Can be counted
- Often associated with nomothetic questions
Methods:
Humanities
·
Authority and tradition
·
Narratives
·
Communities of
discussion (often in conflict)
·
Values and ethics
Methods:
Sciences
·
Purpose
o
Causal (experiment)
o
Relational (association
or correlation)
o
Descriptive
·
Data
o
Manipulation
o
Control
o
Observation
o
Report
·
Procedures
o
Reliability
o
Validity
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02.01.06