STA630 SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF RESEARCH & ITS SPECIAL FEATURES
STA630 Research Method
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SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF RESEARCH & ITS SPECIAL
FEATURES
Research produces knowledge which could be used for
the solution of problems as well as for the generation of universal theories,
principles and laws. But all knowledge is not science. The critical factor that
separates scientific knowledge from other ways of acquiring knowledge is that
it uses scientific approach.
Sciences involve the study of people – their
beliefs, behavior, interactions, attitudes, institutions, and so forth. They
are sometimes called soft sciences.
Science is a way to produce knowledge, which is
based on truth and attempts to be universal. In other words science is a
method, a procedure to produce knowledge i.e. discovering universalities/principles,
laws, and theories through the process of observation and re-observation.
By repeating the observation, the researchers want to
be definite and positive about their findings. Those who want to be definite
and positive are often referred to as positivists. The researchers do
not leave their findings into scattered bits and pieces.
Rather the results are organized, systematized, and
made part of the existing body of knowledge; and this is how the knowledge
grows. All this procedure for the creation of knowledge is called a scientific
method, whereby the consequent knowledge may be referred to as scientific
knowledge
Important Characteristics of Scientific Method
1.
Empirical
Scientific method is
concerned with the realities that are observable through “sensory experiences.”
It generates knowledge which is verifiable by experience or observation.
Some of the realities could be directly observed,
like the number of students present in the class and how many of them are male
and how many female. The same students have attitudes, values, motivations,
aspirations, and commitments. These are also realities which cannot be observed
directly, but the researchers have designed ways to observe these indirectly.
Any reality that cannot be put to “sensory experience” directly or indirectly
(existence of heaven, the Day of Judgment, life hereafter, God‟s rewards for good
deeds) does not fall within the domain of scientific method.
2.
Verifiable
Observations made through scientific method are to
be verified again by using the senses to confirm or refute the previous
findings. Such confirmations may have to be made by the same researcher or
others. We will place more faith and credence in those findings and conclusions
if similar findings emerge on the basis of data collected by other researchers
using the same methods. To the extent that it does happen (i.e. the results are
replicated or repeated) we will gain confidence in the scientific nature of our
research. Replicability, in this way, is an important characteristic of
scientific method.
Hence revelations and intuitions are out of the
domain of scientific method.
3.
Cumulative
Prior to the start of any study the researchers try
to scan through the literature and see that their study is not a repetition in ignorance.
Instead of reinventing the wheel the researchers take stock of the existing
body of knowledge and try to build on it. Also the researchers do not leave
their research findings into scattered bits and pieces. Facts and figures are
to be provided with language and thereby inferences drawn. The results are to
be organized and systematized. Nevertheless, we don‟t want to leave our studies
as stand alone. A linkage between the present and the previous body of
knowledge has to be established, and that is how the knowledge accumulates. Every
new crop of babies does not have to start from a scratch; the existing body of
knowledge provides a huge foundation on which the researchers build on and
hence the knowledge keeps on growing.
4.
Deterministic
Science is based on the assumption that all events have antecedent causes that are subject to identification and logical understanding. For the scientist, nothing “just happens” – it happens for a reason. The scientific researchers try to explain the emerging phenomenon by identifying its causes.
5.
Ethical and Ideological Neutrality
The conclusions drawn through interpretation of the results of data analysis should be objective; that is, they should be based on the facts of the findings derived from actual data, and not on our own subjective or emotional values.
Researchers are human beings, having individual ideologies, religious affiliations, cultural differences which can influence the research findings. Any interference of their personal likings and dis-likings in their research can contaminate the purity of the data, which ultimately can affect the predictions made by the researcher. Therefore, one of the important characteristics of scientific method is to follow the principle of objectivity, uphold neutrality, and present the results in an unbiased manner.
6.
Statistical Generalization
Generalizability refers to the scope of the research
findings in one organizational setting to other settings. Obviously, the wider
the range of applicability of the solutions generated by research, the more
useful the research is to users.
For wider generalizability, the research sampling
design has to be logically developed and a number of other details in the data
collection methods need to be exactly followed. Here the use of statistics is
very helpful. Statistics is device for comparing what is observed and what is
logically expected. The use of statistics becomes helpful in making
generalizations, which is one of the goals of scientific method.
7.
Rationalism
Science is fundamentally a rational activity, and
the scientific explanation must make sense. Religion may rest on revelations,
custom, or traditions, gambling on faith, but science must rest on logical reason.
There are two distinct logical systems important to the scientific quest, referred to as deductive logic and inductive logic. Beveridge describes them as follows:
In induction one starts from observed data and develops a
generalization which explains the relationships between the objects observed.
In deductive reasoning one starts from some general law and applies it
to a particular instance.
Deductive logic is the familiar syllogism: “All men are mortal; Mahmood is man; therefore Mahmood is mortal.” A researcher might then follow up this deductive exercise with an empirical test of Mahmood‟s mortality.
Using inductive logic, the researcher might begin by
noting that Mahmood is mortal and observing a number of other mortals as well.
He might then note that all the observed mortals were men, thereby arriving at
the tentative conclusion that all men are mortal.
In practice, scientific research involves both
inductive and deductive reasoning as the scientist shifts endlessly back and
forth between theory and empirical observations.
There could be some other aspects of scientific
method (e.g. self-correcting) but what is important is that all features are
interrelated. Scientists may not adhere to all these characteristics. For
example,
objectivity is often violated especially in the
study of human behavior, particularly when human beings are studied by the
human beings. Personal biases of the researchers do contaminate the findings.
Looking at the important features of scientific method one might say that there are two power bases of scientific knowledge:
(1) Empiricism
i.e. sensory experiences or observation,
(2)
Rationalism i.e. the logical explanations for regularity and then consequential
argumentation for making generalizations (theory).
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