Читать книгу Methods in Psychological Research - Annabel Ness Evans - Страница 17

Empiricism is acquiring knowledge through our senses or with instruments that extend our senses. In research, we often think of instruments such as microscopes or telescopes, but in psychology, we refer to intelligence tests and surveys as instruments. The important point is that other people can verify such observations and measurements using their senses or their instruments. Directly observing an event and using a machine to measure something are both means of obtaining empirical evidence.

Of course, it would be foolish to always require direct sensory experience before we believe something. For example, just because we have never skied at Park City, Utah, does not mean that the ski resort does not exist. Empiricism must be combined with rational thought to make meaning of our world, and this is what science does.

FYI

Interestingly, as its first entry, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines empiricism as “a: a former school of medical practice founded on experience without the aid of science or theory b: QUACKERY, CHARLATANRY.” This is not what we are referring to in our use of the word. Our use reflects the second entry: “the practice of relying on observation and experiment especially in the natural sciences.” Curious how the word refers to both quackery and the natural sciences!