Thus far, you have learned about the basics of the scientific method. An important principle is that scientific inquiry should be free from biases, emotions, and value judgments. This includes methods, results, theories, and social scientists themselves. But there is always a human element in science that can affect objectivity. Reflect on what you learned from the module resources and respond to the following prompts. You will refer to your advertisements when participating in the discussion.
Create one initial post and follow up with at least two response posts.
For your initial post, address the following:
What might be the consequences (positive and/or negative) of a social scientist’s emotions or biases showing up in their research?
Examine your four advertisements. How are potential biases represented in each of your ads? Think about the biases of the advertiser (creator of the ads) and the target audience (viewers of the ads). If you do not think bias is present, explain why and provide examples from your ads to support your point.
In a few sentences, summarize the presence of potential biases in your advertisements.
Please include the links to your advertisements in your post so your peers can view them.
For your response posts, address the following:
In this week’s resources, you learned about several specific strategies that you can use to manage your biases. How might you apply some of those strategies to processing media like the advertisements your peers shared?
Remember, this assignment is graded on the quality of your initial post and at least two response posts to your classmates. If you refer to any sources, be sure to include an attribution (or citation) to the resource.
To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric.
