Human Sciences

Scope and Methods & Tools

Sean Coleman

2026-05-12

Today’s Goals

1. Understand Scope and Methods & Tools in the Human Sciences
   • What counts as a human science?
   • How do human sciences produce knowledge?
2. Break down major essay title

Major

In-class TOK Essay

Three Essential Components of the Essay:

1. Provide a clear exploration of the prescribed title
2. Adopt a coherent approach
3. Develop a critical analysis

May 22 Title 3

Is there solid justification for regarding knowledge in the natural sciences more highly than knowledge in another area of knowledge? Discuss with reference to the natural sciences and one other area of knowledge (for the major, Human Sciences).

Key Words

• Solid = reasonable, evidence-based
• Justification

High Regard for Natural Sciences

• Empirical methods
• Scientific method
• Peer review
• Accuracy, reliability
• Practical impact
  • Medicine
  • Technology
  • Quality of life

Critique of Superiority

• Limits of science
• Relative value over other AOKs

Evaluation Criteria

• Usefulness
• Reliability
• Scope of impact
• Human relevance

Effective Essay Strategy

• Critically evaluate claims
• Question assumptions
• Use specific examples

Title 3 Mindmap

mindmap
  root((***Title***))
    **Key Words**
      *Solid* = reasonable, evidence-based
      Justification
    **High Regard for Natural Sciences**
      Empirical methods
      Scientific method
      Peer review
      Accuracy, reliability
      Practical impact
        Medicine
        Technology
        Quality of life
    **Critique of Superiority**
      Limits of science
      Relative value over other AOKs
    **Evaluation Criteria**
      Usefulness
      Reliability
      Scope of impact
      Human relevance
    **Effective Essay Strategy**
      Critically evaluate claims
      Question assumptions
      Use specific examples

Takeaway 1: Scope

What Is a Human Science?

Systematic, empirical study of human behaviour and society

Core disciplines:

• Psychology
• Economics
• Sociology
• Anthropology

Human vs Natural Science

	Natural	Human
Subject	Nature	People
Experiments	Controlled	Often impractical
Concepts	Generalize well	Don’t travel across disciplines
Observer effect	Minimal	Central problem

The Observer Effect

The act of observation changes what is being observed.

• Hawthorne effect — workers produced more whenever they were observed, regardless of conditions
• Goodhart’s paradox — when a measure becomes a target, it stops being a good measure
• Probe effect — the instrument disturbs the phenomenon

Social Facts

Some things exist only because we collectively agree they do.

• Money has value
• Marriage is a legal institution

Human sciences study things that depend on human agreement.

Natural sciences don’t have this problem.

Warning

Not everything with “science” in the name qualifies

• Political science ≠ politics
• World Religions: not a science
• Business Management: borderline case

Takeaway 2: Methods & Tools

The Core Problem

You cannot run a controlled experiment on human society.

Each discipline has developed its own methods — and they don’t transfer well to other disciplines.

Psychology: Lab Experiments

Peterson & Peterson (1959) — short-term memory lasts ~18 seconds without rehearsal

Method: controlled lab setting (a “simplified replica”)

Gain: precision and control

Cost: ecological validity — does it reflect real life?

Economics: Models

Circular flow of income — simplified model of how money moves in an economy

MONIAC (1949) — a physical hydraulic machine that modelled the UK economy

Kahneman & Tversky — people are predictably irrational

Models are useful, but every simplification is also a distortion.

Sociology & Anthropology: Field Methods

Surveys / questionnaires — quantitative and generalizable, but surface-level

Participant observation — deep and valid, but prone to observer effect

Robin Nagle spent years as a NYC sanitation worker to study trash culture from the inside.

Key Point

Unlike natural sciences, there is no single method that defines this AoK.

A method that works in psychology often fails in anthropology.

Concepts and findings do not generalize easily across human science disciplines.

Warning

For the TOK essay

• Anthropology can be treated like history — it’s culture-specific and hard to generalize
• Write about your DP subjects (psychology, economics, sociology)
• Nobody in this class studies DP History or Anthropology — don’t use those as your examples

Summary

Scope — Human sciences study behaviour that is shaped by social facts and the observer effect

Methods & Tools — Diverse, discipline-specific; no universal method