Week 6 Class Notes

 

Agenda

Welcome, check in, readings:

Mosedale: Selections 31 & 32 Readings: Kleppner; Jones; Bridges; Phillips; Zajonc; Chalmers

 

Minute paper:

What is "new physics"? Why do nurse scientists need to know about it and how can this knowledge inform our work? (Quantum theory vs Newtonian Physics).

 

Review:

RV:

1. statement or sense data

2. relationships between sense data and theory

3. true statements based on experience (a posteriori)

4. Historical and sociocultural values, not part of science

5. Deductive structure: propositions can be formalized (symbolic/axiomatic)

6. Explanation is by covering law with ancillary premises

7. Observation terms distinguished from theoretical terms

8. Correspondence rules are basic, linking theory and observations

9. Single method

 

McMullen argues against received view (RV). "Verification is the first theory of meaning." Wittgenstein. This view is too narrow. Meaning and language can't be so precise to describe reality min a 1:1 relationship. So the RV is too narrow. Argued against induction.

Analytic: based on meanings of words (tautologies) not based on observation.

Synthetic: knowledge having to do with the world rather than with reason. (based on observation).

4 other waves

1. observations are theory-laden - Polanyi- Hanson argues against #7 (above)

2. Kuhn: "normal science" is only when RV is OK - argues against #4. There are paradigm shifts -> 1 paradigm emerges -> "normal science" again.

3. Toulmin: evolution, not a revolution, argues against #4 and logic.

4. Feyerabend: argues plurality; argues against #9, #5

Alternatives to RV:

Guba's framework

	Ontology	Epistemology	Methodology
Positivist	Realist	Dualist	Experiment
Post Positivist	Critical Realist	Modified/objectivist	Triangulation
Critical Theorist	Critical Realist	Conversionist	Transformative
Constructionist	Relativist	Subjectivist	Dialectic

Readings:

Kleppner: The tirades against relativity or quantum mechanics reflects little knowledge on the subject.

Jones: Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle (indeterminacy). That atomic location and motion can not be measured at the same time, as the act of measuring one will change that of the other.

Bohr: The Principle of complementarity: our descriptions of the micro world present mutually exclusive views that are inconsistent with each other but, which are complementary. (all views are needed to form a complete picture).

Bridges: Non-RV - (Meleis - perceived view) alternative analyses of the structures of theories.

Phillips: Reasons why tenets of lp did not endure

Competitive Research Traditions

Received View	Non-Received View
The Scientific Method	Alternate Modes of Inquiry
Quantitative	Qualitative: Phenomenology, Ethnomethodology, Grounded Theory

We can use Lauden's criteria fom choosing a research tradition: prescriptive norms for inquiry; conceptual boundaries for the domain of inquiry. Fit : strategies are continuous not dichotomous. Three positions: scientific method (mainstream); non-rv Watson, Winstead-Fry, Munhall - pro holistic view.

 

Fun activity: Pairs will define naturalism vs. idealism; rationalism; empiricism; relativism. Give an example from our readings to date that support this definition.