Perspectives on Perception, Sociology, and Epidemiology: Exploring Shared Realities and Scientific Insights

Krieger talks of a commonly viewed biophysical world, an idea that is shared by everyone. Everyone has a common point of view that there exists some world beyond their imagination. However, there is a point beyond which humans view things differently other than agreeing that there is a shared world. For instance, short, long, and normal-sightedness may make a perfect illustration for this. If an object is placed before them, the short-sighted, the long-sighted, and the normal-sighted person will agree that there is an actual object before them. However, the three of them may distinguish and describe the item differently based on their perception.

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Further, if the object is placed at the same distance for the three of them, they could all give different estimates of how far it is. The short-sighted person might argue that the object is placed too far from their eyes, hence the inability to see. On the other hand, the long-sighted might say that the object is closer to their eyes than the short-sighted person. The normal-sighted individual will argue the item appears to be within a normal range.

"Scientific Observation is not a Passive Phenomenon."

The statement "scientific observation is not a passive phenomenon: what we 'see' and apprehend depends on the ideas we have about what we expect—and do not wish—to see" may be interpreted to mean one thing. The ideas we formulate in our minds are the prerequisites to our actual and physical judgments. Our ideas provide a framework for judging different things. It might be hard to make sense of things or understand facts we have not thought of and internalized. For instance, matters of racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination are the perfect illustrations of people's different ideas towards these subjects. It would be impossible to convince a person who has not considered the need to pay women equally to men because they all put in similar efforts. Suppose the person's ideas and expectations are a society and set up where men are highly regarded in the community. In that case, they will argue for that idea and, to an extent, campaign for that idea. This is the case with other forms of oppression, such as sexism or human trafficking. When one's ideas are that these oppressions are not as bad depending on who is perpetrating them, they will support one group of perpetrators and another.

The Mandate of Epidemiology in Sociological Research

Epidemiology has an impact or rather a helping hand in sociological research. The sociological researcher is concerned with systematically studying people, social phenomena, or institutions. Their concern is finding data to make conclusions concerning habits, traits, or characteristics in people or investigating social happenings such as racism. Epidemiology is focused on providing knowledge. The sociological researcher will use such data on the number of inequalities in health or the extent of suffering in a sample group. Conclusively, sociology has much to borrow from epidemiology since the data on health is part of what the sociological researcher will use in systematically studying people.

The Role of Epidemiology Theory in Scientific Research

Based on the reading, my understanding and opinion on the role of epidemiology theory in research are significant. For any scientific research, information is usually the primary input. Research requires knowledge through statistics, trends, or approaches. Epidemiology provides such data and information on people and health. Although the theory may not offer information in all fields for the researcher, it provides crucial information for significant sociological matters such as racism and sexism. The theory has information for the researcher looking to study inequalities in health and food distribution.