ERIC Number: EJ696779
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2004-Dec-22
Pages: 15
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-8855
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Facts, Interpretations, and Explanations: A Review of Evelyn Fox Keller's Making Sense of Life
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, v37 n4 p539 Win 2004
The job of a researcher is to explain the phenomenon that he or she is seeking to understand. To do this requires the accumulation of facts. These facts are then interpreted to arrive at explanations. However, individual researchers often interpret facts in different ways and arrive at disparate explanations. In her book, Making Sense of Life, Evelyn Fox Keller (2002) outlines various approaches used by developmental biologists to understand the animate systems we call life. In this review, I note several parallels between biology and behavior analysis in how facts are discovered, what is an acceptable interpretation of data, and how explanations are arrived at.
Descriptors: Book Reviews, Biology, Research Methodology, Data Analysis, Behavioral Science Research
Department of Applied Behavioral Science, 1000 Sunnyside Ave., KU, Lawrence, KS 66045-2133. Web site: http://seab.envmed.rochester.edu
Publication Type: N/A
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A

Peer reviewed
Direct link
