In chapter 6 titled “What Count as Evidence,” the textbook talks about the different types of evidence that are successful in an argument. There are two main categories of evidence. The first one given is firsthand evidence and research. Under this category you will find observations, interviews, surveys, questionnaires, experiences and personal experience. In my opinion, the one that is least affective to me is questionnaires. Even though most questionnaires are completely random, it doesn’t mean that the people giving out the survey have a definite variety. All the people that they interviewed could all have had the same views on certain topics. I think the most effective use of evidence under this category is experiments. By performing an experiment, you can find out information that is valid and also some personal experience such as what you believe. Experiments can be done anywhere. They could be done in a science lab, or even on the side of the road. Personal experience, I think, is also very important. Personal experience helps us understand the topic or argument a little bit better if we can relate. The other category given in chapter 6 is secondhand evidence and research. Under this category you will find library sources and online sources. I think most of us can agree that these types of evidence are most trustworthy. Whenever you have a question, or need to research, you normally look it up on the web such as google. In the chapter, it does mention that a library database is completely different than the Internet web, which is true, but either way you go to the computer to look up information. Its also funny the different types of people we trust for accurate evidence. We all know it’s easier to trust a professional than someone who is uneducated.
There are a few reasons why I like this post. First of all I liked how you spent time describing the different types of ways to acquire evidence. You list the different types of evidence and then you go in and talk about them. I like this approach to your writing because I believe it is efficient and easy to follow. I knew where you were going with your post and never had any confusion about what you were trying to say.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in that questionnaires are the least effective way of gaining information because a lot of the things people say may be inaccurate. I also agree that experiments are the best way for acquiring evidence. Only experiments if done enough times can really make certain of accurate evidence. But only if an experiment is done enough times can the evidence be considered accurate. If we were trying to find evidence that more teenagers were watching T.V rather than reading books than we would have to experiment on kids all across the world. We could not just experiment on 10 kids and hope that would make our evidence credible. In order to really get credible evidence we would have to use experiments all over the world on thousands if not more than thousands to gain evidence that may prove our experiment true. Since so many people need to be apart of an experiment this is the reason that experiments are the best way of gaining good evidence.
Good information about the chapter. You stated all the good information that the chapter offers. You have good descriptions of evidence and what kind of evidence it connects too. Like your list on different research methods like interviews and surveys. You also listed possible problems with this evidence, like questionnaires that could be random and people could possibly not take the questionnaires seriously, and could give in adequate evidence. I agree that questionnaires would not be the best evidence, because they aren’t always valid because some people don’t take them seriously. I think experiments are the most valid because it’s your own test that you can control, it’s done in a safe environment with or without distractions, and the information you find out is more valid because you are controlling what is being tested. I also agree that experiments are the most valid evidence although they can be incorrect it is considered a better use for evidence. Also, personal experiments are good evidence but shouldn’t be all of your evidence. In your blog you also talk about other ways of finding evidence, like Google and databases. Google is more of a broad way of finding evidence that isn’t always right, databases is found through libraries, can be more useful and more reliable. It is up to you to decide what is accurate and what is trustworthy. I feel like databases are a more accurate way to find evidence and use it. For our writing assignment we used interviews as a stage in our writing project. When I did my interview I felt that it was a good way to find out good personal experience and information on a subject or for this instance our major. Depending on who you interview could really make or break you evidence. Overall, very good post with very useful information.
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