Blog 2

By Hope Wilson

David's Charney

Empiricism Is Not A Four-Letter Word

       

                                                            Scholarly Research

        Should scholarly research be challenged for authenticity?  I agree with the Davida Charney as she shares “Our over-reliance on qualitative studies and repeated disparagement of objective methods is creating a serious imbalance in studies of technical and professional writing- and the same may be true in composition studies as a whole. The numerous socially-situated ethnographies and case studies, excellent though each may be, cannot by themselves sufficiently extended and refine our methods and our knowledge base. It is rare for the same site or even the same kind of site to be studied by multiple scholars “creating questionable studies. Watson and Cricks made a great point when their “announcement of the double -helix, the documentary record surrounding the Challenger disaster, Jack Seizer's collection of analyses of a landmark article by Gould and Lewontin. In each case, scholars have insightfully interpreted the texts and allowed some degree of comparison of methods and theories. But these scholars rarely challenged or extend other's findings." engaging people to present challenging implications.

         As writings and research of all genres evolves the methodology and its implications are changing "the research methods we employ have important consequences for the intellectual authority of our field, for the ethical, political, and intellectual value of our work, and for its potential to effect beneficial changes in the classroom and the workplace " which may change the definitions of research. Sponsors and financial support may encourage and inspire some researcher’s direction as others research regarding their passion.  I agree with Flynn when he claims " beliefs in the objectively of the scientist and the neutrality of scientific investigation serve the interests of those in positions of authority and power, usually white males, and serve to exclude those in marginalized position. 
Identification by women or by feminized fields with the sciences and social sciences, therefore, may necessitate association with discourses that ignore issues of concern to those in marginalized position and that arise out of epistemology antithetical to their needs and interests. (358)" creating some to believe the possibility of a form of injustice.
    Men of power are dictating research topics. Some scientists and researchers are researching according to their funding. Passion does not always dictate researchers topics. Researchers topics suggested by men are being considered more frequently. Feminists have been weighing in claiming " woman are disproportionately represented" exposing injustices.