evidence+handout

COMM 111 Evidence Handout Identifying and Testing Types of Evidence

Overall: there are two types of evidence (__fact and opinion__) and two sources of evidence (__your observations and those of others__). There are six tests of any kind of evidence: __reliability, expertise, objectivity, consistency, recency, and relevance__. However, we can be much more specific than this:


 * 1) TYPE: Examples (describe events; can be brief or extended, historical or hypothetical)

TESTS: a) how detailed and accurate is the description in the example?  b) how recent is this example?  c) how relevant is this example to the topic of conversation?


 * 1) TYPE: Statistics (numerical representations of events, actions, or other phenomena)

TESTS: a) who produced these statistics?  b) how was the information collected?  c) when statistics compare two or more things, how appropriate is the  comparison?


 * 1) TYPE: Artifacts (actual objects, models, video, audio, photos, simulations, etc.)

TESTS: a) how genuine is the artifact?  b) does this artifact represent other items like it?


 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">TYPE: Scientific evidence (the results of controlled experiments)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">TESTS: a) was the experiment conducted in a setting that reasonably represents other <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> places? (this is called “generalizability”) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> b) were the subjects who participated in the experiment randomly collected? do <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> they represent the wider population? (these are also issues of <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> “generalizability”) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> c) how was the experiment conducted? what were the independent and <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> dependent variables? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> d) are the findings consistent with other findings? if not, why not?


 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">TYPE: Testimony (other people’s opinions; can be authoritative, lay, or reluctant)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">TESTS: a) what are the source’s qualifications? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> b) is the sourced relatively unbiased? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> c) is the expert offering a reasonable interpretation of the evidence he/she <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> examined? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> d) is the expert’s judgment similar to others’ conclusions? if not, why not?