Social and Natural Sciences

849 Words2 Pages

According to Lowe, knowledge requires a form of action to be accurate and precise. In other words, knowledge is created on the basis of a rationally conceived design such as an experiment. Experiments are a great example of how action is required to produce or replicate knowledge. Moreover, one necessitates research and a rational design to attain certainty in his or her knowledge claim. Generally, this certainty may be achieved with an experiment. Natural sciences may be referred to as a science of the physical world, whereas a social science may be defined as a branch of science dealing with human society and relationships. Furthermore, social sciences and natural science may be distinguished by the method of their creation. In general, natural sciences usually require a form of action (i.e. experiment) to provide justification for their knowledge claims whereas social sciences don’t require action to justify their knowledge claims. An example of a method that doesn’t require action may be a case study. One may wonder which method is more reliable and accurate. A knowledge questions that arises from this situation is: To what extent is action required to justify knowledge. In this essay, I am going to examine the extent at which action is required to justify a knowledge claim. By taking both natural and social sciences into consideration. By taking personal experiences and relevant knowledge issues into account, this essay will discuss several aspects regarding the knowledge question.
In natural sciences, one usually requires action in the form of experiments to justify knowledge. Experiments generally include a purpose procedure and quantitative results. Moreover they always have maximum control and show a cause and effect...

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...y, I advocate methods such as experiments that require action to obtain results. Experiments achieve maximum control and show a clear relationship between two variables. Although they lack ecological validity, experiments are generally more accurate and precise. For myself, max control is more significant to ecological validity. Experiments use rationally conceived designs or theories to justify knowledge claims or create knowledge. Precision and accuracy are necessary to justify knowledge claims
In conclusion, by evaluating the two methods for data collection, it is evident that experiments are more reliable and accurate to obtain or justify knowledge. Experiments use a form of action whereas case studies don’t. Although case studies are more ecologically valid, maximum control and cause-effect relationship is more significant for accurate and precise knowledge.

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