Michael Sylvester wrote:
> Observations (not one observation) is another form of research
> methodology. Not all topics are researchable. One ought to distinguish
> opinion from observations.
Only if the observations are made scientifically.
Because of the nature of my interests, the majority of my research _is_
observational (and therefore qualitative instead of quantitative in
nature). There are _many_ topics that lend themselves far better to
observational research than to quantification. But that doesn't imply that
observational research should be any less rigidly scientific than
quantative forms, only that a different methodology is called for.
In the type of case you are referring to, you're confusing observational
research with personal, not scientific, observations. While such anecdotal
evidence is valuable, it _cannot_ take the place of more scientific
approaches--if it did, we would have to accept ethnic "observations" of
racists, sexists, and homophobes as having just as much validity as the
scientific observations of social scientists, a patent absurdity.
An observation needs to be carefully examined in terms of potential bias
and observational accuracy before it should be treated as more than
personal interpretation.
Rick
--
Rick Adams
Department of Social Sciences
Jackson Community College
Jackson, MI
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"... and the only measure of your worth and your deeds will be the love
you leave behind when you're gone. --Fred Small, Everything Possible "
