Hi
On Wed, 15 Nov 2000, Jim Guinee wrote:
> > >Both. Mine, theirs. Data? Let's see. Eight years and about 4,000
> > >students: journals, transformations, conversations, project
> > >presentations, small talk, body language, observations, self-evaluations,
> > >miracles, letters, sometimes totally unscientific but insightful
> > >"studies."
> >
> > In other words, a very large quantity of anecdotes.
> >
> > * PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
> Does that make this information less valid, simply because it hasn't been
> collected scientifically?
Since validity is a criterion with explicit scientific
requirements, yes, by definition it is less valid.
> Is it possible that sometimes in our pursuit to be scientific
> we automatically nullify any possible truth that is based on
> some other source?
No it is not possible ... just joking, sort of. The problem is
that we cannot know whether or not the non-scientific
observations are or are not valid (i.e., truthful) before doing
the scientific research. The problem for us scientists, I
believe, is that people seem to take the "possible" insights of
their intuitive observations as though they were more than
mere possibilities. Assuming validity without adequate grounds
is why we end up with people committed to facilitated
communication, therapeutic touch, and the like. They have bought
into the idea, lock, stock, and barrel despite the lack of
evidence. No amount of negative evidence can get them to change
their minds.
My other concern with Louis's posting, which initiated this
thread, is that it purported to go beyond just being a decent
human being (the latter is something I strongly favor). It
lapsed into quasi-therapeutic language (I believe "healing" was
in there somewhere) and seemed to assume that teachers were
qualified to act as psychotherapists and that the classroom was
an appropriate place for such interactions. It sort of took me
back to the touchy-feely Rogerian classrooms of the 1960s and
1970s ... probably still alive and well in California.
Personally, I believe there is limited pedagogical (and probably
even clinical) value to such activities.
Best wishes
Jim
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James M. Clark (204) 786-9757
Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax
University of Winnipeg 4L05D
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
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