Crim 7 Criminological Research 1

Topic 3: Some Hindrances to Scientific Inquiry

(Errors in Personal Judgment)

Babbie (2000) gives the following hindrances to scientific inquiry. They are
mostly errors in personal judgment. The explanations are made below:

1. Tradition- this is accepting that customs, beliefs, practices, and superstitions

are true and are parts of the daily lives of men. No effort is exerted to find out
whether they are true or not. For example, there is a traditional belief among
some women that women who are conceiving should avoid eating dark or
black food such as black berries because their children will become dark also.
This may be true or not, but many women believe and practice it without
verifying its truth. People have the idea that when everybody does a thing, it is
true. This belief is a hindrance to scientific investigation.

2. Authority- this is accepting without question, an opinion about a certain

subject which is given by someone who is considered an authority on the
subject. If an ordinary person says that kissing transmits colds, he is not believed
much, he may even be laughed at. On the other hand, when a doctor says the
same thing, he is believed without question. Suppose, a doctor commits a
mistake and it is a fact that some doctors commit mistakes sometimes. Worse,
sometimes persons with big names in the community make pronouncements
about things outside their own expertise and they are believed because of their
big names. They are believed without any scientific inquiry about the truth of
their pronouncements. For instance, a well-known athlete is made to announce
that to drink a certain brand of liquor is good because it makes the body strong.
Big stars in the movies are often made to sponsor the sale of certain products,
especially beauty enhancing things or articles, and they are believed without
the slightest semblance of any scientific investigation.

3. Inaccurate observation-this is describing wrongly what is actually observed.

For instance, in the dead of a moonlit night, a man sees a shadow in the form of
a person and the man concludes at once without any investigation that he has
seen a ghost. When a meteor streaks the atmosphere, people who see it say
they have seen a flying saucer. When one sees a man lying unconscious in the
street after he is hit by a speeding car, he concludes at once that the person is
already dead even if he is not. He does not investigate anymore.
 Crim 7 Criminological Research 1

4. Overgeneralization- this is establishing a pattern out of a few instances. For

instance, when one sees one or two Ilocano husbands who are hardworking,
responsible and trustworthy then he concludes that Ilocano husbands are
hardworking, responsible, and trustworthy. When one happens to travel in a
rough road in a certain province he forms the impressions that the roads in a
certain province are rough. He does not take the pains anymore to see if the
other roads in the province are also rough.

5. Selective observation-this is persisting to believe an observed pattern from an

overgeneralization and ignoring other pertinent patterns. For example, one sees
for the first time one or two prosperous Chinese stores beside a poor, struggling
Filipino store. He forms the conclusion that the Chinese are shrewder and more
competitive than Filipinos. So whenever he sees Chinese and Filipino stores he
always has that idea that Chinese and Filipino stores he always has that idea
that Chinese are better businessmen than Filipinos ignoring the fact that there
are also poor Chinese businessmen and there are also very good and more
competitive Filipino businessmen.

6. Made-up information- this is making up information to explain away confusion.

Suppose a buyer buys from a store, goods worth 50.00 and gives to the
storekeeper a 100.00. The storekeeper mistakenly gives a change of 40.00. The
buyer goes away without counting the change but when he gets home he finds
that the change is short of 10.00. Instead of going back to the store to find out
why he has a wrong change, he concludes that the storekeeper is a cheater
and the members of his family are also cheaters. Then, he buys a gain from the
store but accidently leaves his wallet when he is paying for the goods. A son of
the storekeeper goes to the buyer’s house returning the wallet. Instead of
thinking that after all the storekeeper is an honest fellow and perhaps also his
family members, he imagines that maybe the boy went to his house purposely
not to return the wallet but to see his house for a possible burglary.

7. Ego-involvement in understanding- this is giving an explanation when one

finds himself in an unfavorable situation. For instance, when foreigners make a
slur on Filipinos, the latter counter that, that is racial discrimination without
investigating whether the slight is true or not. When a student gets a low grade,
he says that he got a low grade because his teacher has a personal grudge
against him and he is a victim of vindictiveness. He does not make any effort to
examine his abilities, his habits of study, etc.
 Crim 7 Criminological Research 1

8. To err is human- this is an attitude that admits the fallibility of man. When a
man renders a wrong decision or commits a mistake, he merely leans on the
saying, “to err is human.” He does not make any effort anymore to study why he
committed the error, how he committed the error, the implications of his error,
how he can correct his error and how to make more sound decisions in the
future.

9. Dogmatism- this is an unwritten policy of certain institutions and governments

prohibiting the study of topics that are believed to run counter to the
established doctrines of such institutions or governments. Thus in communistic
states, it is unlikely that one studies and writes about the beauty of democracy.
The same is true in a democracy. There is a veiled prohibition to study and write
about the beauty and adoption of communism. It may be remote possibility
that a research about the non-existence of God. It is unlikely also that one
advocates the adoption of polygamy in a Christian community because his
study findings say that polygamy is good.

The above are some hindrances to scientific investigation.