Analyzing Research Methods and Scientific Attitudes

Analyzing Author’s Style

  • Read the text, understand the author’s style, consider if it’s a scientific paper, and how the author elaborates ideas.

The author uses a methodological approach based on dialogue to develop ideas. The article is presented as scientific research, using data collection and bibliographic references.

Research in Education

  • What is research and how is education research seen in the country?

Research is an intentional, structured search for answers. Educational research in Brazil is recent, often copying from other countries, creating a dependency.

Academic vs. Education Research

  • What is the relationship between academic research and education research?

Academic papers are well-prepared but add little to knowledge, often serving only for obtaining titles. Education research is practical, seeking to solve real-world problems within a socio-cultural context.

Critical Positioning

  • SEI critical positioning of the article:

The methods of educational research in Brazil remain obscure, especially regarding public interest. However, the data collected is helpful.

Scientific Attitude vs. Common Sense

  • For the author, what distinguishes scientific attitude from common sense?

Science questions certainties and immediate adhesions, lacking criticism and curiosity.

  • Take a position of reference of this common sense in their everyday life, this example could be reversed scientific content? Comment.

Men do not cry. This can be studied by psychology and demystified.

  • Define scientific attitude and common sense, citing features of each concept.

Common Sense: Ideas passed down through generations, not proven.

Subjective: Expresses individual feelings and opinions (e.g., an artist sees beauty, a carpenter sees wood quality).

Qualitative: Judges things by size, temperature, beauty.

Heterogeneous: Refers to different facts (e.g., a falling glass vs. a floating feather).

Individualizing: Each thing appears as an individual (e.g., silk is soft, stone is rough).

Science: Ideas studied and proven.

Objective: Demands universal structures.

Quantitative: Uses measures and standards.

Homogeneous: Seeks general laws for different phenomena.

Generalized: Groups individuals under the same laws.

Differentiators: Distinguishes seemingly similar things based on different structures.

Philosophical Conceptions

  • Choose a conception of philosophers (Heraclitus, Parmenides, Democritus) and comment.

Heraclitus: Nature is in perpetual flow (e.g., we cannot bathe twice in the same river).

Parmenides: We can only think of what is always identical.

Democritus: Reality is composed of atoms (atomism).

Bacon’s Critique of Idols

  • The philosopher Bacon elaborates a theory called “the critique of idols.” Explain and exemplify one of them with current data.

Bacon identifies four types of idols that prevent knowledge of the truth:

Idols of the Cave: Opinions formed by errors in our sense organs, easily corrected by intellect.

Idols of the Forum; Idols of the Theatre; Idols of the Tribe.