This course, one of four “Engagements” courses you’ll take as a first-year student, focuses on what we can learn from examining the ways in which facts and evidence are identified, collected, analyzed and interpreted. Both within and beyond the university, you will encounter claims about the natural and social worlds and be confronted with situations that require you to evaluate and make decisions based on evidence. Empirical methods are a crucial component to addressing and answering such a broad range of essential questions. We will explore how questions and hypotheses are formulated and evaluated.
A courrsae in "Empirical and Scientific Engagement" will help you:
-
define and delimit what constitutes empirical evidence, deduction, and inference;
-
develop a framework for discerning types of knowledge based on what is empirically observable in the natural, physical, social, and theoretical worlds;
-
frame empirical questions and methods, and interpret claims in the context of continuously updated data;
-
engage active processes of conceptualization and deduction that inform conclusions supported by evidence;
-
examine the social, political, and ethical ramifications of subjecting strongly held beliefs to empirical testing; and
-
articulate the limitations of using only empirical approaches to describe complex phenomena.