| Title: |
Science as Knowledge Construction
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| Resource Type: |
document --> technical publication --> report
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| Country: |
EU Projects
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| Year: |
2002 |
| Availability: |
Winder, N. (2002)
Science as Knowledge Construction
Discussion paper prepared for The AQUADAPT workshop,
Montpellier, October 25th-27th 2002
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| Author 1/Producer: |
Winder, N.
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| Author / Producer Type: |
EC Project
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| Format (e.g. PDF): |
PDF
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EUGRIS Keyword(s): |
Contaminated land-->Soil and groundwater processes-->Soil and groundwater processes overview
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| Short description: |
Introduction:
Observations are sensory experiences articulated with beliefs. When I observe a blade
of grass growing from the crack between paving stones, I receive a bundle of sensory
experience, which I recognise as a “blade of grass” and locate in the “crack” between
“two” “paving -stones”. I believe that blades of grass, cracks and paving stones are
ontologically real and use these beliefs to “make sense” of my experiences. A lot of
sensory stimuli are filtered out by our belief systems and systematically ignored, but
some resonate with them and are consciously acknowledged.
Data are formally recorded observations. They can be discursive (a sentence,
perhaps) or numeric (recorded on paper or on a computer). When you receive data,
you must articulate it with a set of interpretive protocols (your own belief system) in
order to reconstitute it as meaningful observations. By this broad definition the words I
speak in my presentation or write in the paper that accompanies it are data (sensu
lato). The principal difference between data and “raw” observation is that the former
passes through at least two cognitive filters. The observer filters sensory experience
once and codifies the resulting observation as data for storage or transmission. Every
time the data is recalled from store it must be re-filtered before it “makes sense”.
Some writers distinguish data from metadata. Metadata is data generated to
summarise large datasets. If I take a set of weights and compute a mean, or read a
book and write an abstract, I am creating metadata. Like any other sort of data,
metadata must also pass through our cognitive filters before it makes sense.
Information consists of observations that shape a person’s beliefs. The difference is
that between “So What?” and “Aha!” When I tell you that scientists have found a
blade of grass growing between two paving stones, you are quite likely to consider this
a useless or trivial communication. So what? You know what it means (it’s a perfectly
good observation) but it has no impact on your beliefs.
However, if I were to tell you that scientists had found a blade of grass growing on
Mars (and you believed me) it might change your beliefs. Aha! The distinction of
observation from information is dynamic. The Aha! moment that re-shapes our belief
systems is seldom repeated. Familiarity breeds contempt, so that yesterday’s Aha!
becomes tomorrow’s So what?
Knowledge is a shared set of beliefs that allow people to communicate, co-operate
and co-ordinate their actions.
Humans negotiate knowledge by communicating with each other. We seem to be
programmed to try to understand the messages we receive from our senses,
especially those that come from other people. This is particularly true when we are
young. There are many “Aha!” moments in the first decade of life, rather fewer in the
seventh. As our beliefs converge onto those of the community (communities) into
which we are accepted, our knowledge becomes resistant to change. We begin to
filter sensory experience and messages from others that do not resonate with beliefs.
What I am saying is very straightforward but very important. Our beliefs serve as
cognitive filters that determine what we can and cannot observe. Knowledge is a
socially constructed, communal belief system. Within a given knowledge community,
some observations are more likely to be made than others. Personal belief systems
can change, but their amenability to change decreases as people mature
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Submitted By:
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Dr Stefan Gödeke WhoDoesWhat?
Last update: 14/02/2006
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