Ways of Knowing and Research Methods Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering common ways of knowing, cognitive errors, the scientific method, and examples of pseudoscience based on the lecture material.

Intuition

A way of knowing based on 'gut instinct' that is fast and powerful by tapping into evolutionary reflexes, but offers little insight into why or how a conclusion was reached.

Tradition / Authority / Culture

A way of acquiring knowledge through messages from parents, teachers, and cultural norms, providing both descriptive and prescriptive guidelines.

Empiricism

A way of knowing based on personal experience, which carries a high degree of variability because it is not systematic or universal.

Rationalism

A way of knowing grounded in basic logic, assessment, and self-evident reasoning ('common sense').

Confirmation Bias

A cognitive error in which an individual, after forming a conclusion, exclusively seeks out, interprets, or recalls evidence that confirms their existing guess.

Base Rate Fallacy

An error in reasoning where outcome statistics or probabilities are misperceived because the base rate/proportion of that group within the total population is ignored.

Dunning-Kruger Effect

A psychological phenomenon where individuals misperceive their ability, making it difficult to appreciate the true value of a discipline until they become proficient.

Systematic Empiricism

The practice of relying on structured, ordered observation and measurement, which serves as the core foundation of the scientific method.

Pseudoscience

A belief system that purports to be scientific but is not supported by systematic empiricism, often making claims that are uninterpretable or rejecting empirical evidence.

Astrology

A pseudoscientific system alleging that birth date and time predict personality traits, relying heavily on math and subjective perceptions rather than empirical validation.

Learning Styles

The popular idea that categorizes learners into modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) and asserts that matching instruction to these modalities improves learning, despite a lack of empirical scientific support.