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Hi. I'll give you some tips that have worked for me.

1. Never assume that what you read is automatically correct. Your teachers will almost always give you reading materials that are correct because a lot of people have checked to make sure the information is correct. But in life most things are not checked so thoroughly. So if you read something in the news or in a magazine or book, don't assume right away that it is right.

For example, you read in a book:

"World War II was caused by circus clowns."

Of course it sounds crazy to say that circus clowns caused WWII, and you will immediately doubt that. But you have to do this with almost anything you read, especially if someone is claiming a theory or a hypothesis. It is good to critically evaluate the Global Warming theory because, as a researcher, you cannot simply assume the theory is correct.

Usually, if a lot of scientists agree on one problem, the chances are higher that they are right. But even if they do mostly agree, it is up to you to critically analyze the claims.

2. When you read something, pay attention to two things.
-Internal Validity
-External Validity

Internal validity is consistency. That is, it is consistency of a pattern of thinking that makes sense. If I say:

If A, then B. If B, then C.

It is logical to say If A then C. This train of logic is consistent. But what if I then say:

If Not C, then B. Does this makes sense? Is it consistent?

Since I said that B implies C, that is B-->C, then we can't have a scenario where we have B BUT NOT C, which is what "If Not C, then B" says. In this case, we violate internal consistency and logic.

My example is rather abstract, but almost all research is based upon some logical foudations. For example, if we want to evaluate a theory, we might create some working hypotheses to test that theory. Those hypotheses must logically follow from the implications of the theory. For example, if the theory is that greenhouse gases are causing global warming, then we can set up a hypothesis like:

Hypothesis: We expect that atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration is positively correlated with global warming.

The hypothesis logically follows from our theory.

The second type of validity is external validity. External validity refers to the real world. It refers to how accurately our theory is describing something that actually happens.

Many theorists argue that external validity is not a major limitation of science. Economists, for example, sometimes make theories based on the idea that people are rational, kind of like computers. But are people really like computers? Much of the time people are anything but rational.

Regardless, sometimes people ARE rational and so a theory that says people are rational is useful. The best approach is to not automatically reject a theory because it makes some assumptions (like human rationality) that aren't always true. Rather, assume that the theory's assumptions are true, at least for the time being, and critically evaluate the internal validity and logic, as well as any hypotheses it implies.

3. Information-gathering and an understanding of some important mathematical techniques is vital to understanding much of science and math.

When you gather information, you do so in various ways. You may read several long articles or books, or download some data in Excel. Becoming fast and efficient in gathering data is critical to becoming a good scientist or researcher. Ask yourself three questions:

1. What do I know?
2. What can I know by using what I know?
3. What must I find out?

Steps 1-3 are much like solving a system of equations, where you have some known values and some unknown values. If you have, for example, two equations with two unknowns, X and Y, you can solve it. But say you have only one equation. The only way to solve both X and Y is to gather additional information (what you must find out).

If you take each step one at a time, gathering what you know first, and then looking at that data and seeing how you can use it to give you new information, a very tricky task can become much easier. If you are guided by a theory, you will know where to look for that data, because every theory has several testable hypotheses. Of course, trial and error is also a big part of science, and simply trying a few ideas and seeing where they take you is also very useful.

2007-03-05 13:28:45 · answer #1 · answered by bloggerdude2005 5 · 0 0

Take math instructions (algebra) and a working laptop or workstation programming classification. the two teaches you to analyize issues - at a element point. In a programming classification, very small issues (many times ignored by folk who're telling you what to application) could make a great distinction in what you are able to desire to do - in specific cases, you are able to desire to redo the belongings you in basic terms carried out. I took the two in severe college and school. Then labored 3 years as a engineer designing bridges, and then 28 extra years designing computers. while construction the state's financial computers (payroll, genuine components, go away administration, etc) I had to tell the auditors precisely what the gadget might do (earlier I outfitted it) - and after myteam build it and the auditors examined it - answer their questions approximately why it did not paintings one hundred% as I defined interior the start. I dislike video games - like the Rubic cube - that persons say help you learn those skills. To me, the video games produce not something useful. in case you prefer to prepare your skills think of of how you get to a place. Write the instructions down. you in all probability suggested something likepersistent on Interstate 450 for 5 miles, then take go out US 250 for a million mile. yet you ignored an excellent style of information. To somebody who had in no way carried out it, can they stick on your instructions and get the activity carried out? I visualize me doing the form, and write down as many information as i will. come lower back the following day, and evaluation what you have written - you will see places the place you left issues out - upload them. come lower back the following day, and re-examine the record - lower back you will see issues which you ignored. do not forget approximately - what's vehicle? What does "making use of" mean?

2016-12-18 06:30:21 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0 0

don't just take someone's opinion. assess the situation yourself. try defending both sides and then analyze your defenses. this should help you understand the situation more and you'll realize how you feel about it without being one-sided.

2007-03-05 13:01:30 · answer #3 · answered by sweetcha88 3 · 0 0

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