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SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH METHODS: Psychological Research on the Human Spirit
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Department of Psychology |
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Natural Science
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A closer examination of two approaches to science may reveal ways to foster an integrated approach to a more adequate science. Natural science, the basis of conventional scientific methods, is rooted in the modern view of science described above, while an alternative, human science, exemplifies a postmodern view of science. Natural science is based on an interwoven set of assumptions including positivism, operationism, reductionism, and mechanism. Positivism suggests that science should study only those aspects of the world about which we can be positive, i.e., only those phenomena which can be measured, quantified, and verified by independent observation. Height, weight, miles, and hours are legitimate to scientific exploration but intangibles such as values, feelings, and states of consciousness are not, except as they can be treated as quantifiable phenomena. Closely related to positivism is the doctrine of operationism which requires that all phenomena being studied be defined a priori in terms of the operations used to observe them. This restricts scientific discovery by limiting observations to those aspects of phenomena which are already known or predicted. Reductionism suggests that complex phenomena should be explained at lower levels of analysis. For instance, emotions should be explained at the level of physics and chemistry as exclusively biochemical and neurophysiological happenings. Mechanism suggests that the world is made up of discrete objects which interact through cause-and-effects laws. A related assumption is that researchers should be distant from the phenomenon being observed so as to not interfere with it. Similarly, manipulation of independent variables and control of extraneous variables is said to allow certainty about the causes of behavior. This view of science has been responsible for substantial contributions in dealing with mechanical phenomena in the natural world but it has been found to be wanting in dealing with human experience and values. Having excluded deeper psychological values and experiences from scientific study, the only two alternatives left are to study just the surface of these phenomena, reducing them to manageable, quantifiable data or to ignore them altogether. When taken as the sole means of arriving at knowledge, natural science becomes scientism.
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Human Science
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Human science, on the other hand, focuses on those phenomena which are most human, including experience, values, meaning, feelings, and a sense of the spiritual (Giorgi, 1970; Polkinghorne, 1983). Seamon (1982) discusses a similar contrast in environmental psychology in terms of positivist and phenomenological approaches and shows that central questions in environmental psychology can only be studied through a phenomenological approach. Human science is a strong example of a postmodern approach to scientific research. Within psychology, human science approaches include humanistic, phenomenological, and transpersonal psychology. The philosophical roots of human science include phenomenology, hermeneutics, and holism. Phenomenology refers to the study of experience as such. The focus is on immediate experience and the meaning associated with it rather than simply on overt behavior or physical phenomena (Seamon, 1982). Here, the focus is shifted from behaviors to the meaning of behaviors and experience. Hermeneutics (Messer, Sass, & Woolfolk, 1988) refers to, among other things, the interpretation of phenomena in their larger contexts. The term originally referred to the interpretation of Biblical text by theologians. The meaning of a word, story, verse, or parable depended on its context, both in the larger text and in its socio-historical context. Behavioral scientists have used this same notion to understand how the meaning of a given behavior is, to a degree, context-specific. A day hike in a natural area can be survival, work, health promotion, recreation, or worship. Hermeneutics points to the centrality of context, including the person's motivations, value system, beliefs, needs, and state of consciousness, in understanding experience. Holism recognizes that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Wholes are not merely collections of parts; the properties of these wholes cannot be understood or even predicted from the parts. By the same token, an experience cannot be reduced to a collection of behaviors and cognitions but must be viewed as a gestalt. The goal of human science is to construct and support descriptions of experiences which are deeper, richer, and more useful. Depth refers to the match between a description and the experience or action being described. A deeper description is one that describes more aspects of a phenomenon. It can also be said that a deeper description is one which comes closer to a person's experience of a phenomenon. A profound description has extraordinary depth. However, the notion of depth does not assume that there is a "final," complete description. Particularly in describing the human spirit, any description, no matter how deep, will include a recognition of mystery and depth that cannot be fully captured in descriptive language. Richness refers to the connections with other phenomena. A richer description provides more links to other phenomena. Usefulness refers to practical applications. A more useful description provides more ways to alleviate suffering and promote well-being. Well-being, in this sense, is taken in the broadest terms. Well-being is not just material, but includes dimensions of wellness such as the sense of community, understanding, aesthetics, and meaning, and the object of well-being is not just humans but the larger whole including the environment. For advocates of human science, greater understanding and better descriptions are inseparable from service to the world.
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