Towards “Thick Analysis” of Statements, Propositions and Assertions: Compendious Evaluations with Immense Benefits in Research

This paper is quite obviously very closely interrelated with our two earlier papers and publications, on discourse analysis and fallacy identification that were conceptualized in the interests of better and intrinsically higher quality science. The core and central objective of this paper is therefore to present the concept of “thick analysis” by extending the concept of thick description, which pre-exists in social and cultural anthropology, though it is not quite so central and important to it. Before proceeding to the central theme of this paper, we discuss the multiple concepts of assertions, axioms, paradigms, frameworks, postulates, propositions, premises, inferences and implications threadbare. We then also explain how an analysis of these can be used for thick analysis from our perspective. Suitably conceived examples of thick analysis from across a diverse spectrum of human experience are also presented along with the merits and advantages of this approach and technique. As such, we expect this to constitute an important and a central part of scientific research, social sciences included, with many ramifications and implications for science as a whole.