Facts appear a lot more valid when they are supported by numbers. Human Science attempt to study the way people act through experiments or surveying. Data is something that allows human sciences, such as psychology or sociology, to claim certain facts as true.
However, in TOK class, we discussed that there were many possible errors in the sampling of people. There are many ways in which questions can be asked to manipulate an answer from the participants. Also, certain surveys that are made public are often only taken by certain groups of people. It is difficult to find a perfect sample of people that can represent a whole group, or even a whole nation. A sampled view that is not distributed well can result in skewed data.
The example we were given in class was from an article titled "Sex Surveys." The article discussed that surveys of "How often do you have sex" were distributed to a public magazine. The results from this survey were to represent the general number of adults / teens having sex, and how frequently they had sex.
However, the article explained that people who engaged in a lot of sex were more likely to answer the survey question. This can greatly skew the outcomes of the data, because the sample had more people who were likely to answer similarly the question in the survey.
Like a batch of colorful M&Ms, sampling for Human Sciences must consider all diverse people. This way, sociologists and psychologists can distribute accurate conclusions and find ways to improve human interactions. If surveys are conducted with bias, it can affect how people and society think and expect from one another. If a survey claimed that people had sex very often, yet the survey sample was biased, then the conclusions of the survey would be inaccurate. However, because of the results of the survey, many people still go one believing that the survey was true.
I think Human Sciences have a lot of power, and should be responsible for that power.
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