This entry will be my last for a while. I hope you found the blog interesting and informative. I welcome your feedback and questions. You can contact me at jgabriella.played@gmail.com.
The Role of Perspective in STEM
When I share my
Christian faith with skeptics, they often indicate they do not believe in the
Bible because it contains inconsistencies. In this connection, some individuals
note that different authors of the Gospel report different details or the same
story. I often respond to these critics by explaining the difference as the
result of perspective. Each author has highlighted different details of the
event. As long as they are not contradictory, these details actually strengthen
the account by enriching it. The phenomenon is similar to the one depicted by
the tale of the three blind men feeling an elephant.
Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant) records the following summary of the story among
others:
A Jain version of the story says
that six blind men were asked to determine what an elephant looked like by feeling different parts of the
elephant's body. The blind man who feels a leg says the elephant is like a pillar; the one who feels the
tail says the elephant is like a rope; the one who feels the trunk says the elephant is like a tree branch; the
one who feels the ear says the elephant is like a hand fan; the one who feels the belly says the
elephant is like a wall; and the one who feels the tusk says the elephant is like a solid pipe.
A king explains to them:
All of you are right. The reason
every one of you is telling it differently is because each one of you touched the different part of the
elephant. So, actually the elephant has all the features you mentioned.
In science, our
perspective sometimes affords only a glimpse of the phenomenon of interest.
Like the blind men, we need to put our glimpses together to form a complete
picture, to understand the complete phenomenon. However, like the blind men, we
do not know for sure if our perspective is accurate until we grasp the overall
image of phenomenon. This point is critical due to its enormous impact on research
quality and results validity. We should keep the role of perspective in mind as
we conduct our own research and review the results of others.
In specific, we
should consider the following:
1.
Methodology.
It the methodology is unsound, the perspective—that is,
the contribution to the overall picture of the phenomenon offered by the
result--, will be unreliable.
2. Replicibility
Has the
experiment been replicated? If so, were the results—the perspective—the same as
in previous
research. As the
case of Harvard Professor Amy Cuddy’s study "The Benefit of Power Posing
Before a High-StakesSocial Evaluation" (https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/9547823) reveals, even experienced, honest researchers make
mistakes. In this instance, other researchers were not able to replicate her
results, widely disseminated in her TED Talk “Your Body Language Shapes Who You
Are” (https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/9547823).
3.
Source
Dr. Cuddy’s
study had been published in a peer-reviewed journal. In other words, other
social scientists reviewed the content to confirm the methodology and results. Furthermore,
she is a highly-trained researcher. Many sources are not refereed by
scientists. In fact, most on the internet are not. Blogs and articles are
written by novices and experts. For this reason, you should consider the
qualifications and experience of the study author as you evaluate the accuracy
or the perspective offered.
We should also consider
the data even when the study author is an elite research or scholar whom we
personally respect. As a Stanford professor I interviewed once remarked about
the research philosophy at the University of Chicago, his alma mater, “In God
we trust. Everyone else bring data.” I strongly commend his advice to you.
4.
Bias
While some
researchers deliberately manipulate experiments or data to bias their results
to support a favored perspective, we are all unconscious victims of our
personal biases. They not only affect the way we design our research, but also
how we interpret it and that of others, as well. In fact, some deliberately
avoid reviewing the work of researchers whose opinions or biases differ. Worse
yet, search engines filter results to present us with lists of articles and
sources that favor our biases and views.
Suggested
Activity
In groups of
three or four, review a few experiments whose results failed to confirm Dr.
Cuddy’s study?
1.
How
are the methodologies of the studies similar to each other? How are they
different?
2.
How
does the methodology of each study compare to Dr. Cuddy’s methodology?
3. Do
you feel that Dr. Cuddy approached her study with an unconscious bias? If so,
explain your opinion.
Dr. Gabriella
is an accomplished scholar and businessman. Ivy-league educated, he has served
as a lecturer or professor at universities in the U.S., Japan, and China.
Currently, he resides in Japan, where he is a senior manager and active
consultant. A former high-school math teacher, Joseph is passionate about
teaching critical STEM skills to future generations through his company,
Play-Ed Corporation.
