SKW 320

Kuliah 3

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

What is Science?

INTRODUCTION

Science is a body of knowledge

Science is a way of knowing based on experimental or observational evidence and its interpretation.

Science is a discipline largely defined by its primary method – the scientific method.

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

An endeavour to construct an accurate representation of the world.

Sea Breeze

This is a natural breeze that blows from the sea towards the land during the day.

It is caused by the land and the sea having different heat capacities.

Land Breeze

This is a natural breeze that blows from the land towards the sea during the night.

It is caused by the land and the sea having different heat capacities.

• Science is from the Latin word, scientia, to know.

• Science is an objective, logical, and repeatable attempt to understand the principles and forces operating in the natural universe.

• Good science is not dogmatic (rigid), but should be viewed as an ongoing process of testing and evaluation.

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• Humans seem (naturally) interested in the world we live in. Young children drive their parents batty with constant "why" questions. Science is a means to get some of those whys answered.

• When we shop for groceries (foodstuff), we are conducting a kind of scientific experiment. If you like Brand X of soup, and Brand Y is on sale, perhaps you try Brand Y. If you like it you may buy it again, even when it is not on sale. If you did not like Brand Y, then no sale will get you to try it again.

Provisional Assent – Scientific Ideas Can Only Be Proven Wrong

• A theory stands because observations or experimentation never proves its tenets wrong.

• This doesn’t prove the theory is correct – only that its never been proved wrong.

• In this sense, scientific knowledge is provisional (temporary).

But what’s a theory?

• A fact is an undisputed (certain) piece of information derived from observation.

• A hypothesis is a testable prediction• A good hypothesis should be falsifiable.

• A theory is a general set of principles that explain some natural phenomenon.

• Examples of scientific theories are the theory of gravitation, the atomic

• Theory: the cell theory, the theory of evolution.

• The scientific method offers an objective way to evaluate information to determine what is false.

• The late astronomer Carl Sagan,

pointed out that "Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of facts “

• A 1998 National Academy of Sciences book contains a superb chapter that distinguishes between facts and theories and between scientific beliefs and faith.

• In scientific terms, "theory" does not mean "guess" or "hunch" as it does in everyday usage.

• Scientific theories are explanations of natural phenomena built up logically from testable observations and hypotheses. . . .

• In scientific terms, "theory" does not mean "guess" or "hunch" as it does in everyday usage.

• Scientific theories are explanations of natural phenomena built up logically from testable observations and hypotheses

• Scientists most often use the word "fact" to describe an observation.

• But scientists can also use "fact" to mean

something that has been tested or observed so many times that there is no longer a compelling reason to keep testing or looking for examples. . . .

• Usually "faith" refers to beliefs that are accepted without empirical [observed] evidence.

• Most religions have tenets (system of belief) of faith. Science differs from religion because it is the nature of science to test and retest explanations against the natural world.

• Thus, scientific explanations are likely to be built on and modified with new information and new ways of looking at old information. This is quite different from most religious beliefs.

• Therefore, "belief" is really not an appropriate term to use in science, because testing is such an important part of this way of knowing.

• If there is a component of faith to science, it is the assumption that the universe operates according to regularities. . . . This "faith" is very different from religious faith.

Science Works in 4 Specific Ways:Principles, Processes, Characteristics, &

through a Cultural Context

Image from evolution.berkeley.edu website.

1-Science has Principles

• Explain the natural world

• Explanations tested with evidence from the natural world

• We can learn about the natural world by gathering evidence

2- Science Is A Process

• Scientific claims are based on reasoning, testing, and replication; “falsifiable”-to prove that something is incorrect

• Theories are central to scientific thinking.

Images from evolution.berkeley.edu website.

3- Characteristics of Science

• Conclusions are reliable, though tentative

• Science is not democratic• Science is non-dogmatic• Science cannot make moral or

aesthetic decisions.

Rosa californica, courtesy of G. L. Smith.

4- Science Exists in a Cultural Context

• Science is not always a direct ascent toward the truth.

• Science corrects itself.• Science is a human endeavor:

a) Falling in love with one’s own hypothesis b) Being drawn in by preconceptions

Image from evolution.berkeley.edu website.

Observation about

unexplained phenomenon

Causal QuestionsE.G Why questions Abduction

From scientific observation to tentative explanation•Creativity•Recall: Long term memory•Use analogy•Previous experience•Related research

Alternative HypothesesTentative ideas to

explain phenomenon

ExperimentsTest conditions

DeductionFrom a non observable explanation

and experimental to specific observable consequences

Expected ResultWhat should happen;

What is predicted

Observed ResultsWhat actually happens

ConclusionThe hypotheses are supported

or contradicted

If…

And..

then.. Comparison

Summary of Key Word and Scientific Process

Natural Sciences and Human Sciences

• Is there a sharp division between human and natural sciences in terms of methods, concerns and status?

The answers depend on your philosophical position: two schools of thought

Natural and Human Sciences

No difference in kind between Natural and Social Sciences

• Traditional empiricists would argue that there is no difference and both natural and human sciences, to be legitimate, must use the same (natural science) methodology – founding and guaranteeing their knowledge through observation and experiment.

Difference in kind between Natural and Social Sciences

• Human sciences are essentially different on account of the meaningfulness of human behaviour. Human sciences yield legitimate knowledge but must use different methods to the natural sciences.

Causal Explanation of Human Behaviour

• J S Mill in the 19C argued that any phenomena displaying regular patterns were a fit subject for science and all natural phenomena, including human behaviour displayed regularities.

• The same methodological strategies must be employed in both cases to establish by inductive processes the true causal explanations of observed regularities.

• Human behaviour is to be explained by recourse to the same principles as are used to explain complex physical systems.

Some problems

• In what sense can psychological processes of thinking, feeling etc. be reduced to physiological processes? – Different logical category. But if mental events are not physical events how can they influence the physical world?

• Causes of human behaviour are reasons not mechanical causes

• Free will?

Relative lack of success in human sciences?

• By which measure – • Empiricists explain lack of success by

– Immense complexity– Moral and practical problems in setting up

controlled experiments– Phenomena rarely occur in the same form –

human behaviour subject to change – reflexive: behaviour may be changed by understandings in the human sciences themselves

Overcome problems by

• Describe the facts more minutely

• Experiment where possible

• Quantify and use statistical techniques

• Put forward theoretical frameworks and test them according to the hypothetico-deductive model

Peter Winch

• There is a difference in kind between the natural and the social sciences; it is not just a matter of increased complexity. The phenomena of the natural sciences do not endow themselves with meaning; humans, however, do endow their behaviour with meaning.

• Analysis and explanation of human action must involve concepts of purpose and intention

• Human action is rule-following behaviour not causally regular behaviour as in natural sciences

• Imaginative understanding of the agent’s point of view

Conclusions

• Impossible reduction of the social and psychological to the merely physical.

• Psychology has been diverted when attempting to impose faulty notions of “scientific methodology of the natural sciences” to become scientific.

• The naïve conception of the scientific methodology leading to true representation of the natural world is in any case mistaken.

References

• Nagel, Thomas. What is it like to be a bat? http://members.aol.com/NeoNoetics/Nagel_Bat.html

• Parker, I. (1992) Discourse Dynamics: Critical Analysis for Social and Individual Psychology. London: Routledge. Chapter 5 Power: an ecological model of text-life. http://www.discourseunit.com/pdf/DD%20PDFs/DD%20Chapter%205.pdf

• Social Constructionism, Discourse and Realism 1998, Ian Parker (ed.), London, Sage.

• Lodge, D Sense and sensibility: http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,823955,00.html

• Harre, R “The rediscovery of the human mind” http://www.massey.ac.nz/~alock/virtual/korea.htm

TERIMA KASIH

r_adawiah@usm.my

Teori:

• Teori dalam sains tabii (natural sciences)

adalah berkaitan dengan fenomena alam.

• Teori dalam sains sosial merujuk kepada fenomena sosial atau kehidupan sosial manusia.

Fenomena tabii (natural phenomena), adalah tepat, tetap dan tidak berubah.

Contoh: Matahari terbit di sebelah timur.

Fenomena sosial (social phenomena) pula adalah sangat fleksibel dan sering berubah-ubah.

Contoh: Bahasa berbeza daripada satu daerah dengan daerah yang

lain.

Ia berubah-ubah kerana sifat semulajadi manusia itu sendiri yang tidak dapat dijangka.

Fenomena sosial juga tertakluk kepada perubahan bergantung kepada faktor-faktor lain.

Contoh: Apabila terdapat pengaruh kebudayaan.

Oleh itu, teori yang dikemukakan berkaitan fenomena sosial adalah tidak tetap dan tidak jumud.

Kenapa perlu teori?• Mendapatkan maklumat/pengetahuan dan

pemahaman yang tepat tentang sesuatu perkara.

• Pengetahuan tentang sebab-musabab. Sebab: Alasan kenapa sesuatu

perkara itu berlaku.Musabab: Kesan terjadinya sesuatu

perkara.

• Membantu dalam perancangan masyarakat (social planning) bagi kemajuan dan pembangunan.

Natural and Social Science from An Idealist Point of View

Natural Science Social Science Inanimate nature and living organisms Human action and practices Non-evaluative, positive Evaluative and normative Objective experience (hard facts) Subjective experience Description of physical data Interpretation of psychological and cultural

data Closed sytem (small number of controlled and discrete variables)

Open system (large number of variables that can be defined loosely)

Exact Inexact Quantitative, numerical and measureable variables

Qualitative, non numerical variables

Predictive power of explanations for identifying specific outcomes (the symmetry of explanation and prediction)

Prediction is limited to specifying patterns and is not the sole criterion for establishing the usefulness of an explanation

Smith, 2005

Hipotesis:

Model:

Teori Saintifik:

Langkah-langkah dalam pengkaedahan saintifik:

• Pemerhatian dan penerangan tentang sesuatu fenomena.

• Penggubalan hipotesis bagi menerangkan fenomena tersebut.

• Pengggunaan hipotesis untuk mengandaikan kewujudan fenomena yang lain / atau untuk menjangkakan keputusan bagi sesuatu pemerhatian baru.

• Melakukan ujian eksperimen tentang jangkaan yang dilakukan – pengkaji bebas dan pengkaji khusus.

Alternative discourses vs Eurocentrism

Main issues:

The opposition between nativist and autonomous social science

The need for proper conceptualization of relevance

The impact of the relationship between discourse and power on alternative discources

Teaching the social sciences along the lines of the requirements of alternative cources.