Huaylupo, J. 2008. La Relatividad y Significación de los Datos. Cinta moebio 32: 127-152

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The Relativity and Signification of Data

Mg. Juan Huaylupo (juan.huaylupo@ucr.ac.cr) Escuela de Administración Pública y Sistema de Estudios de Posgrado. Universidad de Costa Rica (San Juan, Costa Rica).


Abstract

Data epistemology’s exploration is a subject that could be considered arid and too specialized and even valued as an analytical and philosophical sophistication with little implication in daily life or scientific work. The present document argues about social communication’s implicit elements as well as on language used on scientific demonstration. It is considered that in many cases those elements are treated in an insufficient, ambiguous or contradictory approach. Time has come to discuss them under the light of new reflections and positions. Data have been considered unquestionable because they represent reality concretions. However, their significance depends on the appreciation of reality, on the way data is registered and on their use on each speech, as well as on the context of facts formalization into data. These aspects have not been sufficiently analyzed to date. Additionally, there is another problem worthy of further reflection. Data have been considered as new commodities that are created, sold and purchased, under the assumption that their significance is based in their intrinsic value, independently of their accurate representation of reality, data building and usefulness.

Data is analyzed as a substantive element in all social communication, then, when distorted by prejudices and quantitative paradigms, affects communication between subjects and social stakeholders and put in risk scientific explanation.

Key words: data, epistemology, explanation, research, methodology.

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Cinta de Moebio
Revista de Epistemología de Ciencias Sociales
ISSN 0717-554X