Experts & Institutions (DP IB Theory of Knowledge): Revision Note

Experts & institutions

• Experts can act as sources of knowledge because they have specialist training and experience that most knowers do not have.

• Knowers can judge whether to trust an expert by checking:

  • expertise: whether the person has relevant qualifications and a track record in their field

  • evidence: whether the claim is supported by clear data, reasons or references to recognised research

  • transparency: whether the expert explains their methods, limitations and uncertainty

  • independence: whether there are conflicts of interest that could influence the expert’s claim

  • reputation: whether the expert’s work is respected by other specialists in the field

Peer review and specialist methods

• Institutions and communities of experts support knowledge production by using specialist methods and tools that non-experts may not be able to apply

  • Specialist methods vary by discipline, but will include agreed procedures for collecting evidence and for deciding whether conclusions are justified

• Knowledge generated by institutions and experts undergoes peer review; during this process, other specialists evaluate the research before publication to help identify any errors or unsupported claims

  • Peer review does not guarantee truth, but it can increase reliability by requiring experts to justify methods, evidence and reasoning to their peers

Disagreement among experts

• Experts do not always agree with each other for different reasons, such as:

  • evidence is incomplete

  • methods involve personal judgment

  • different experts weigh evidence differently

• For a non-expert, disagreement can be handled by checking whether:

  • the disagreement is about method, evidence, interpretation or personal values

  • there is an emerging consensus based on repeated findings

  • the experts involved are prepared to discuss the limitations of their research

    • experts who refuse to consider that they are wrong may be more likely to hold personal biases

Power, funding and bias in institutions

• Institutions, such as universities or research groups, shape shared knowledge because they influence which questions are researched and which voices are heard

• Whether or not a question is researched, or a paper published, may depend on factors such as:

  • funding: research that reflects the interests of funders, or that shows desired results, is more likely to receive funding; this can introduce bias into academic research

  • power structures: people with decision-making power influence what gets researched, what gets published and who is treated as credible