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LECTURE 1 Science and Scientific Research

Aidyn Aldaberdikyzy

15/02/2022

What is a research?

1. Definition of research

None of the above can be considered “scientific research” unless: (1) it contributes to a body of science, and (2) it follows the scientific method.

Answer

2. Terminologization of science

What is a science?

Etimology

Etymologically, the word "science" is derived from the Latin word "scientia", which means knowledge based on demonstrable and reproducible data.

Science is a systematic and logical approach to discovering how things in the universe work. It is also the body of knowledge accumulated through the discoveries about all the things in the universe.

Definition

Science can be grouped into two broad categories: natural science and social science.

Types of sciences

3. Explanation of scientific knowledge

Scientific knowledge refers to a generalized body of laws and theories to explain a phenomenon or behavior of interest that are acquired using the scientific method.

LAWS

Laws are observed patterns of phenomena or behaviors, while theories are systematic explanations of the underlying phenomenon or behavior.

Scientific research operates at two levels: a theoretical level and an empirical level

4. Explanation of scientific research

The theoretical level is concerned with developing abstract concepts about a natural or social phenomenon and relationships between those concepts (i.e., build “theories”).

Theoretical level

The empirical level is concerned with testing the theoretical concepts and relationships to see how well they reflect our observations of reality, with the goal of ultimately building better theories.

Empirical level

5. Classification of scientific methods

The steps of the scientific method

1. Make an observation or observations.

2. Form a hypothesis — a tentative description of what's been observed, and make predictions based on that hypothesis.

3. Test the hypothesis and predictions in an experiment that can be reproduced.

4. Analyze the data and draw conclusions; accept or reject the hypothesis or modify the hypothesis if necessary.

5. Reproduce the experiment until there are no discrepancies between observations and theory.

The scientific method must satisfy four characteristics

Characteristics

• Replicability: Others should be able to independently replicate or repeat a scientific study and obtain similar, if not identical, results.

1

• Precision: Theoretical concepts, which are often hard to measure, must be defined with such precision that others can use those definitions to measure those concepts and test that theory.

2

3

• Falsifiability: A theory must be stated in a way that it can be disproven. Theories that cannot be tested or falsified are not scientific theories and any such knowledge is not scientific knowledge. A theory that is specified in imprecise terms or whose concepts are not accurately measurable cannot be tested, and is therefore not scientific.

4

• Parsimony: When there are multiple explanations of a phenomenon, scientists must always accept the simplest or logically most economical explanation. This concept is called parsimony or “Occam’s razor.” Parsimony prevents scientists from pursuing overly complex or outlandish theories with endless number of concepts and relationships that may explain a little bit of everything but nothing in particular.

Scientific research projects can be grouped into three types: exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory.

6. Typology of scientific research

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