Trial and error
Psychological theory stating that our learning should be
understood as a successive elimination of error based on feedback. It is
associated with behaviorism, whereas Gestalt psychologists attacked the theory
and claimed that human learning is mainly based on sudden insights ("aha-erlebniz").
In information science claims Swanson (1977, 1986)
that information retrieval is performed by a "trial and error"-process.
He is influenced by
Karl Popper, who regards scientific theories as conjunctions to be falsified
by other researchers. In the same way regards Swanson a search strategy as a
guess, which may be falsified (but never completely verified). Swanson's view is
critically discussed by Hjørland (1997)
Literature:
Hjørland, B. (1997): Information Seeking and
Subject Representation. An Activity-theoretical approach to Information Science. Westport & London: Greenwood Press.
Swanson, D. R. (1977). Information Retrieval as a Trial-and-Error Process.
Library
Quarterly, 47(2). (Reprinted in: Key Papers in Information Science.
Ed. by Belver C. Griffith. New York: Knowledge Industry Publ., 1980,
328-348).
Swanson, D. R.(1986). Undiscovered Public Knowledge. Library Quarterly, 56, 103-118.
See also: Behaviorism (Epistemological lifeboat); Behaviorism in LIS
Birger Hjørland
Last edited: 16-05-2006