Question

Identify which one of the "Rules of the Road to Scientific Knowledge" has been violated. A researcher notices that when more firemen are sent to the scene of a fire, there tends to be more damage from that fire. She therefore theorizes that there is a positive causal relationship between the independent variable number of firemen sent to a fire and her dependent variable amount of fire damage.
a. Consider only empirical evidence.
b. Make your theories causal.
c. Avoid normative statements.
d. None of the above.

Answer 1

None of the above violates the "Rules of the Road to Scientific Knowledge".

Explanation:

The "Rules of the Road to Scientific Knowledge" includes the following things such as: The theory should be causal in which there may be covariation or causal relationship. The data that you included in your theory should not drive the theory as a single entity. The theory should be started with the reason and not with the statistical data. The evidences that are collected form the interpretation of the real world which is empirical in nature should be considered.  

The statements that are normative in nature should be avoided. two things such as parsimony  and  generality should be included. In the given example the causal relationship between the number of firemen sent to the scene and the damage are related causally. The observed evidence which is an empirical evidence is presented since the researcher notices the things. Normative statements are not included and hence the given example does not violates the "Rules of the Road to Scientific Knowledge".