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Post-empirical Research

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Sunday, October 14, 2012 by

I know the topic is slightly outside of this week's assigned reading, but I was really struck by Knight's description of post-empirical research. As I've said many a time in relation to this class, my knowledge of social science research is slight, so again I've found a topic with which I am totally unfamiliar yet find fascinating. Apologies for any gross inaccuracies that may follow given my general ignorance.

So I've taken from Knight's summary that post-empirical research really focuses on reanalysis of existing data, as opposed to original data collection and subsequent original analysis. In an info-glut society with increasingly few "gaps in the literature", this seems like an interesting avenue, especially for younger, less experienced researchers. With a background in English literature, I can see echoes of the feminist literary tradition in this strategy - taking existing material and examining it using a different, potentially subversive framework in order to glean an alternative perspective. This has certainly proved popular in the humanities (e.g. post-colonialism, Marxist theory, queer theory, feminist theory, to name only some of the most common schools), but I'm a tad wary about applying it to science, including that of the social variety.

Aside from undermining epistemological objectivity (something I've parted ways with, regardless), I feel like post-empirical research runs the risk of catering to the "theory of the month" and simply becoming reflective of academic trends. This isn't necessarily all bad - alternative interpretations of data can only create a richer, more diverse body of knowledge, or at least support productive discussion - but I also feel that things could get muddled, contradictions could pile up, and ultimately the purpose of the original research falls to the wayside of potential politicking.


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