Empirical Questions
Empirical questions are answered through observations and evidence about the world. Some can be addressed with established knowledge or available estimates; others require further investigation. The answer depends on the question’s precision and the evidence available.
THE IDEA
Questioning Data, Information, and Experience
Empirical questions are questions primarily answered through determining facts. To answer an empirical question, we need to find out the relevant facts: either by personal experience, research, or other means. We raise empirical questions when we need knowledge about the world and how things function in it.
Empirical questions fall into two categories: those for which the answer has already been determined, and those not yet settled. When dealing with the first type, we identify a reliable source or way to settle the question. These we might call settled empirical questions. The second type is any of those empirical questions that have not yet been legitimately answered. Both depend on facts and our access to them.
Examples the authors treat as answerable from established knowledge or published estimates:
- According to available statistics, how many people die each year from AIDS?
- According to available statistics, how many children are annually sold into slavery?
- According to available statistics, how many people are homeless in America?
- Is there an effective vaccination for polio?
- According to available statistics, how many children in the world die each day from malnutrition?
- What are the major ways that electricity is generated?
Examples posed as unsettled in the source:
- How can we cure AIDS?
- Is it possible to achieve world peace (and put an end to war)?
- Can a man ever grow to be 11-feet tall?
- Given the rate of destruction to the ocean at the hands of humans, at what point will the ocean no longer be able to revive itself?
- Is it possible to prevent money from being used in politics to serve the interests of the wealthy (at the expense of the larger public interest)?
Sometimes we aren’t sure whether an empirical question has been settled. Consider the question: Can a horse jump a nine-foot fence? There is already a host of information available on record-setting jumps by horses. Through our research, we may find that a horse has already jumped a nine-foot fence. If so, the question is settled. If not, we must rely on available information and knowledge to reason through the question. Considerable information is available about the physiology of horses and the physics of jumping. It may or may not be possible for an expert on both to come to a well-supported judgment about the probability of some horse eventually jumping a nine-foot fence. Of course, the question cannot be affirmatively settled until some horse actually jumps the height.
Many questions are not exclusively empirical, but have an important empirical dimension. In that case we need to determine which part of the question is factual, what facts, precisely, are relevant, and how to locate those facts.
Whether settled or unsettled, empirical questions, of course, can also be either simple or complex.
When to use it
When conducting research, first check if your empirical questions have already been settled by reviewing existing statistics or studies.
In decision-making, distinguish between factual questions (empirical) and subjective value judgments to clarify arguments.
In academic writing, explicitly categorize questions as empirical or non-empirical to structure your analysis and support claims with evidence.
When evaluating claims, ask whether the underlying question is empirical and whether the evidence provided is sufficient to settle it.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Settled Empirical Questions
Questions that can be addressed using existing evidence include whether an effective polio vaccine exists and estimates of annual AIDS deaths or children sold into slavery. A published estimate still depends on its date, definitions and method; finding a number does not make the quantity known exactly.
Unsettled Empirical Questions
The source gives questions such as how to cure AIDS, whether a man can grow to 11 feet and whether world peace is possible as examples of unsettled questions. Their status must be assessed against the evidence available when the question is asked.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Think of a question you are curious about. Is it an empirical question? How would you determine if it is settled or unsettled?
Consider a complex issue like climate change. What parts of the debate are empirical? What parts involve values or opinions?
When researching a topic, how can you quickly identify whether a key empirical question has already been answered by existing data?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- The Art of Asking Essential Questions Based on Critical Thinking Concepts and Socratic Principles (Linda Elder, Richard Paul)