Empiricism Is Not a Four Letter Word

1. No research method deliver authority or acceptance, but instead critical negotiation, careful consideration and active critiquing of methods and results

1.1. by advocating subjective methods instead of subjectivist methods we loose the ability to make our own work better and promote social justice

2. Critics of science do not like their reliance on numbers and clean precise and solid evidence

2.1. also claim that they have a propensity to dehumanize

3. states that there have been genuine efforts for reform for women in the field and that women hold a myriad of jobs

4. Empirical research is a way of gaining knowledge by means of direct and indirect observation or experience

4.1. rhetorical theory should be useful for accomplishing this dissociation: by articulating strategies for linking and dissociating facts and values, rhetoric denies the intrinsic association of a particular value(like evil) with a particular fact (like power)

5. objective methods facilitate communication and encourage collaboration

6. Do empirical methods have any legitimate place in composition studies?

7. "critics of science often conflate methods and ideologies in simplistic ways that have been challenged by others sharing their political commitments"

7.1. "with the means of producing authority unfairly monopolized by scientific disciplines, empirical researchers in composition are portrayed as petty sycophants, imitating scientific merchandizing in a futile effort to attract a better market share"