Key Characteristics of the Lenses
Generally, each liberal arts sphere employs a varying outlook or “lens” through which it uses to observe and study the world. Professionals in natural science, humanities, history, and social science utilize questions to gain information even though they may ask them in diverse ways that help them scrutinize the different aspects of a topic. The history lens, for instance, utilizes our experiences from much earlier situations that are presumably similar to the current developments to give us a sense of understanding of the new situation (Kronzek, 2020). The historical lens involves adequate scrutiny of data from past events. The lens is essentially a critical investigation of events, their specific developments, and experiences from the past. While voting may often be termed as inconveniencing, time-consuming, and at times appear pointless, observing it from a historical lens helps us understand what drives us to the polls.
On the other hand, natural science focuses on the physical world and includes studies such as biology, chemistry, physics, and other disciplines such as technology and mathematics. Natural scientific literacy requires the evaluation of data which is critical in the voting process as well. Natural scientists utilize the knowledge to develop questions and utilize specified criteria to describe, predict, and observe the natural world (Biscontini, 2020). However, the lens of humanities includes the study of literature, history, philosophy, languages, comparative religion, arts, and ethics, which are all disciplines of imagination and memory. The field of humanities helps us gain perspective of where we have been and assists us in envisioning where we are going (Shaughnessy, 2017). The humanities lens helps understand the origins of the civil rights movements that have been critical in championing the registration of many African Americans as voters to help them gain political power. The key characteristics of the social science lens include the attainment of data and publishing of research in a collaborative manner. In addition, the social science aspect relies on raw data such as survey results, statistics, interviews, and observations.
Types of evidence
The humanities lens utilizes textual evidence, including legal documents, original works of art, autobiographies, and interview transcripts. On the other hand, the natural sciences perspective uses proof such as anecdotal and expert opinions, case-control studies, observational cohort studies, systematic reviews of existing literature, and randomized control trials. The social science lens uses artifactual data, existing statistics, interviews, field observations, and historical documents as part of its evidence-based practices (Garcia, 2020). Historians, however, utilize a variety of sources to make judgments and form opinions regarding past events. The sources include written sources, speeches, visual evidence such as photographs, and many more.
Similarities and Differences
While the social science lens utilizes a scientific approach, the humanities lens utilizes an analytical approach. In addition, the humanities lens provides a relativist concept of truth while the social science aspect offers a divergent positivist concept of truth. A common similarity of the four lenses is that they all deal with living things, especially human beings. Additionally, they are all data-driven and empirical besides all using a scientific method and requiring objectivity in evaluation processes.
Topic selection
The topic selected for the research is voting rights. Challenges in voting rights are not necessarily a 21-st century invention as the struggle for equal voting rights can be traced back to the earliest days of history. However, after an extended period of bipartisan efforts to expand the enfranchisement, Americans and other individuals from different nations globally face new obstacles to voting. Key issues surrounding voting rights include the exclusion of non-citizens, including permanent legal residents, from partaking in the voting process, excluding some persons facing felony convictions, and exclusion of mentally incapacitated individuals, even though this rule varies by state. Other obstacles to voting rights include literacy tests, bureaucratic restrictions, and poll taxes that deny some people the right to vote.
References
Biscontini, T. (2020). Scientific Literacy. Salem Press Encyclopedia
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Garcia, J. D. (2020). Social Science. Salem Press Encyclopedia.
Kronzek, L. C. (2020). History. Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2020. 2p. Research Starters. Web.
Shaughnessy, M. F. (2017). The Humanities: Past, present, and future. Nova Science Publishers, Inc.