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A research team wants to study whether certain behaviors ought to be deemed illegal. Apply the distinction between empirical and non-empirical questions to briefly explain why the scientific method cannot be used to answer their specific inquiry.
Question: A research team wants to study whether certain behaviors ought to be deemed illegal. Apply the distinction between empirical and non-empirical questions to briefly explain why the scientific method cannot be used to answer their specific inquiry.
Sample answer: The scientific method cannot answer this inquiry because deciding what behaviors ought to be deemed illegal involves subjective value judgments. Science can only test how the world literally is through scientific observation, not settle questions about how it ought to be.
Key points:
- The inquiry involves subjective value judgments.
- It asks how the world ought to be.
- The scientific method relies on scientific observation of how the world literally is.
- Subjective value judgments cannot be settled through scientific observation.
Rubric: The response must explicitly state that deciding what ought to be illegal is a subjective value judgment and that the scientific method only addresses what literally is through observation.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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