Unit 5 Assignment
April 27, 2015
There are two broad distinct categories of the principal methods of inquiry, they are reconstruct the past and create or discover new knowledge. For reconstructing the past, the methods of epidemiologist, criminal investigator, historian, journalist and archeologist are used. To discover or create new knowledge, the method of a scientist and creative artist in general are used. There are some diverse disciplines that can be a contribution, such as; physical geography, forensic medicine, computer technology, geology, criminalistics, statistics and physical anthropology (W., O. J., & H., W. R., 2012, Chapter 14).
There are several methods of inquiry and it starts with; inductive reasoning, which is used by ones observation or experiences to come to a generalization or conclusion. Here is an example; it was the suspect’s girlfriend’s house and there were two glasses on the table, half full of wine, one of the glasses was the suspect’s. Deductive reasoning is when you start with a generalization and then end up with the facts, like finding fingerprints on the glass, which will prove that the suspect was there. Classification/taxonomy is where you put things or item/objects into groups or categories. You would do this if you had organisms, like different types bugs or stages or larvae that you had to keep track of to determine how long someone has been dead, or if you had different types of bullets that you had to classify. A hypothesis is a guess of what happened based on what evidence you have, it may change if the evidence or witnesses statements change. Once you have all the facts then you have a theory, which is a proven hypothesis, so in criminal investigation once that you have collected all the evidence and the suspect is now in jail for the crime, you have a solid theory based on the evidence. Synthesis is putting single items together and making a big item. Let’s take Bone’s (TV show), she takes...