GEOG 1 Artifact and Reflection 1: Evidence of Course Student Learning Outcome 1: Discussion 2:

Scientific Methodology and Its Limitations

1.

Student Learning Outcome 1 is to demonstrate scientific literacy by analyzing and

interpreting physical geography data (from the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and
biosphere) and comprehending scientific methodology and its limitations.

2.

General Education Outcome 3.3 is to apply technology effectively to locate, evaluate,

interpret, organize, and present information using appropriate research tools.

3.

The article that I chose to represent Student Learning Outcome 1 was Discussion 2:
Scientific Methodology and its Limitations. The source that I used for this assignment was found
from EBSCO, a research database that allows students from Pasadena City College to log in to
do scholarly research. The article that I had found was titled "Climate Change Scenarios
Analysis in Coastal Region of Thailand", and was published in the Journal of Coastal Research.

4.

I evaluated the data by reading objectively, keeping in mind the limitations of scientific
research. Reading through the study, I took note of the proposed hypothesis and the trajectory
of the study, as well as the research and background that the authors had included to provide an
environmental history of the hazard. In this case, it was about climate change and its effect on
Thailand. The researchers supplanted that developing countries suffer from climate change and
the resulting meteorological disasters with far more severity than developed countries. As well, I
looked at the charts and numerical data they had presented as a result of their study to provide
evidence to their claims.

5.

I developed a comprehensive analysis of the data by carefully reading and noting the
methodology and praxis of the researchers. By looking objectively and interpreting the data from
the charts and their results, as well as comparing them to their claims about climate change and
its effects on developing countries, I was able to synthesize a working analysis of the study.

6.

I questioned the views of the experts by looking critically at their methodology. They
explained that they took several measures against sampling bias and had some numerical
models to cross check their data, which is a sign of meticulous scientific methodology. However,
because the study is limited by resources and time constraints and human error, as well as
constricted by the area that they had selected to research, there were many factors to choose
from when criticizing their research methods. In choosing the areas that they sampled, there
were already limitations to how much that data can represent.

7.

Although there is a host of different technologies that I have had to employ for this course
(including online map makers, image editing and word processing softwares, search engines,
etc.) the technology that I used for this discussion was pretty simple: I used an online database
that I accessed through Pasadena City College, searched through that database to find an
article that met the requirements of the discussion, analyzed and cited the information, cross
checking citing decorum from an online scholarly resource, and posted my analysis on our
school portal, Canvas.