No. She’s a teacher, and teachers of all people should be expected to know how the scientific method works.
Gullible@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
I dunno, I’d give it the benefit of the doubt. It might just be an incredibly niche topic, like the prognosis of early onset schizophrenia in adopted women of color.
Ep1cFac3pa1m@lemmy.world 1 day ago
hddsx@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
I’m confused. Person is writing a paper and looking for supporting evidence based on what they have observed. They are not running a study.
Science starts with what you have observed and you make a guess based on that information, and then you try to find out if you’re right.
For example, I see a big yellow orb in the sky a lot of the time. Why? Does the earth rotate about a big yellow orb? Does a big yellow orb rotate about the earth?
Being wrong about your guess does not negate that which you have observed. You might learn why you observe what you have observed but it does not take away from the fact that yes you have indeed observed something. This person has made observations and is trying to justify that using existing research. Again, they are not running a study. You don’t know if existing literature points to the persons hypothesis being wrong. You don’t know if it’s something that hasn’t really been studied so there isn’t that much evidence right now and person is trying to get someone to look into an issue.
seralth@lemmy.world 1 day ago
They also very well could be writing about something incredibly niche based on those firsthand experiences.
Niche things tend to lack easily accessable information.
So hunting your ass off can be most of the working lol
MotoAsh@lemmy.world 1 day ago
This GREATLY depends on how one frames their own experiences, which we also do not get much information on from OP’s post. If someone is merely seeking validation for their conclusions which they claim their experience points at conclusively, then they are FAR from the scientific method.
In fact, I’d argue the wording does point to such logistic fallacies. They cite their own experiences, not something more removed from subjecrive experience.
Deconceptualist@leminal.space 1 day ago
There are different levels of understanding.
I’m trained in physical sciences. I studied at university and then worked ~8 years for a research department and at one point learned 2D NMR and how to run molecular simulations on a supercomputer. I’m well aware of the challenges of winning grants against colleagues and getting papers published and surviving peer review and then hoping your work gets noticed outside your of weird little niche.
My buddy is a schoolteacher. He can run circles around me with arithmetic and explain the scientific method in rap format so kids eat it up.
We’re both ostensibly working with the same core principles but the reality ends up quite different. Context matters.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 10 hours ago
Also…this is how every English teacher I’ve ever met teaches scholarly writing. Pick a topic, research sources about that topic that support your thesis, pad it to 5 pages with meaningless filler sentences and repetition.
Mind you, this is usually persuasive writing class, ie “Here’s what you should be doing and here’s why.” Which 1. pretty much is going to start with the conclusion and then back that up with cited studies, and 2. isn’t part of the scientific method in the way an experimental report is.
“Effects on manganese dioxide on the central and peripheral nervous systems of primates” is a scientific article, “Why You should be eating fewer AA batteries” is not a scientific article.