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FEATURES OF A SCIENCE - Coggle Diagram
FEATURES OF A SCIENCE
Objectivity
- When all sources of personal bias are minimised so as not to distort or influence the research process (usually most objective are experiments)
- Researcher should remain totally value free when studying/unbiased
- Researchers are not influenced by personal feelings + experiences
- The facts will speak for themselves even if they turn out to be different from what the investigator hoped
- Studies with the highest levels of control (lab) tend to be most objective
Empirical Evidence
- Refers to data being collected through direct observation or experiment
- Empirical evidence does not rely on argument or belief
- Instead, experiments + observations are carried out carefully + reported in detail so that other investigations can repeat + attempt to verify the work
Falsifiability
- A theory cannot be considered scientific unless it admits the possibility of being proved untrue (false)
- Even if a theory has been successfully and repeatedly tested, it is not necessarily true. It simply has not been proven false – yet!
- If the theory survives attempts to be proved false it will become stronger
- This is why we never say ‘this proves’ and use terms like ‘this suggests that’ instead
Replicability
- The abiity to repeat the method to assess if similar findings are achieved
- Acorss a range of contexts + circumstances
- The ability to achieve similar findings
- It determines the reliability of the findings
- Also helps determine validity - if it can be replicated across different contexts it suggests we can generalise the findings
- It is an important part of the scientific process
- Scientific method involves defining a problem and formulating a hypothesis which is tested with empirical research
- Research findings are an important part of this process
- If we wish to draw conclusions from research studies, the procedures and findings should be repeatable
- Unrepeatable results may imply flaws or lack of control within the method used and are of limited use in theory construction
- Theory strengthened through repeated attempts at falsification
Theory Construction
- A set of general rules or principles that have the ability to explain particular events or behaviours
- Theory should be amenable to scientific testing
Theory Construction:
- Have an idea (usually based on previous research)
- Create a testable hypothesis
- Gathering evidence using empirical methods (conduct experiments)
- Draw conclusions from the study
Hypothesis Testing
- Should be able to make clear + precise predictions based on theory
- Theories should suggest a number of different hypotheses
- Should be able to test the theory using objective measures to see if we support or refute the hypothesis
Paradigms
- A shared set of assumptions and agreed methods within a scientific discipline
Natural sciences:
- Biology, physics. These have set principles in place e.g. theory of evolution
Pre-sciences:
- Psychology – as there are too many internal disagreements and conflicting approaches
Paradigm Shifts
- The result of a scientific revolution
- A change in the dominant unifying theory within a disciple
- E.g. Physics - change from a Newtonian Paradigm towards Einstein's theory of relativity
Induction Method
- This means a scientist makes an observation
- Create a theory around this observation
- And then go away and conduct research to prove or disprove this theory
- Observations
- Testable hypothesis
- Conduct a study to test the hypothesis
- Draw conclusions
- Propose theory
Deduction Method
- This means a scientist creates a theory and then search for evidence to prove or disprove it
- The fits with the idea that theories should be made first, and then 'falisified'
- This means instead of looking to prove a theory you should look for evidence to disprove
- Observations
- Propose theory
- Testable hypothesis
- Conduct a study to test the hypothesis
- Draw conclusions