In the philosophy of science, observations are said to be “theory-laden” when they are affected by the theoreticalpresuppositions held by the investigator
2 Forms of Theory-Laden Observation
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Forms of Theory Laden Observation |
Description |
In Relation to Observation |
|---|---|---|
|
perceptual theory-laden observation |
the theoretical presuppositions held by the investigator impinge on the perceptions of the investigator similar to: Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis |
the theoretical presuppositions determines which observations to make |
|
semantic theory-laden observation |
the meaning of an observation is partially determined by theoretical presuppositions (different presuppositions may propose different meanings of the same observation) similar to: Theory of Linguistic Relativity |
the theoretical presuppositions determines the meaning of the given observation |