I chose an article that discusses the effects of the ongoing pandemic on college students’ mental health. To determine whether to classify this source as scientific or non-scientific knowledge, it is essential to know the differences between the two types. One key distinction is that knowledge obtained through scientific methods can be tested and proven. Conversely, non-scientific information constitutes unempirical data such as people’s experiences, common sense, intuition, and social interaction (Anderson, 2019). For this reason, knowledge acquired in this manner is usually subjective and cannot be generalized. For instance, one person’s observation of a phenomenon can differ from another person’s view, yet both constitute non-scientific knowledge (Mikulak et al., 2011). On the other hand, scientific knowledge is objective and generalizable. The findings of a sample application to the whole population if the representative is selected well. From these differences, I concluded that my chosen article was a scientific source.
I determined that what I read was scientific knowledge because it was obtained through an experiment. The researchers conducted the study by administering a semi-structured interview to 195 students (Son et al., 2020). During the investigation, data was collected, analyzed, interpreted, and presented in the form of statistics. For instance, the researchers recorded that 71% of the students experienced increased anxiety and stress due to the pandemic (Son et al., 2020). Additionally, these results are relevant to other student populations since they are objective. This means that the conclusions from this study can be extrapolated to different student populations. In general, it would be fair to conclude that much higher education students have experienced increased anxiety or stress due to the pandemic. I believed the argument presented in this article because it was backed by research. I was convinced of the findings because they were obtained through scientific methods and were not just unverifiable opinions.
References
Anderson, P. (2019). Scientific and non-scientific knowledge. Web.
Mikulak, A. (2011). Mismatches between ‘scientific’ and ‘non-scientific’ ways of knowing and their contributions to public understanding of science. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 45(2), 201-215. Web.
Son, C., Hegde, S., Smith, A., Wang, X., & Sasangohar, F. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 on college students’ mental health in the United States: Interview survey study. Journal of medical internet research, 22(9). Web.