scientific method

Examples of scientific method in the following topics:

• Sociology and the Social Sciences

  • As a social science, sociology explores the application of scientific methods to the study of the human aspects of the world.
  • As a social science, sociology involves the application of scientific methods to the study of the human aspects of the world.
  • The use of scientific methods differentiates the social sciences from the humanities.
  • Newton, along with others, changed the basic framework by which individuals understood what was scientific .
  • In the realm of other disciplines, this reformulation of the scientific method created a pressure to express ideas in the form of mathematical relationships, that is, unchanging and abstract laws.

• Tradition vs. Science

  • Social scientists began to adopt the scientific method to make sense of the rapid changes accompanying modernization and industrialization.
  • By employing the scientific method and emphasizing empiricism, sociology established itself as an empirical science and distinguished itself from other disciplines that tried to explain the human condition, such as theology, philosophy, or metaphysics.
  • Early sociologists hoped to use the scientific method to explain and predict human behavior, just as natural scientists used it to explain and predict natural phenomena.
  • And, while arriving at a verstehen-like understanding of a culture adopts a more subjective approach, it nevertheless employs systematic methodologies like the scientific method.
  • Both positivist and verstehen approaches employ a scientific method as they make observations and gather data, propose hypotheses, and test their hypotheses in the formulation of theories.

• Defining the Sample and Collecting Data

  • Social scientists employ a range of methods in order to analyze a vast breadth of social phenomena.
  • Many empirical forms of sociological research follow the scientific method .
  • Scientific inquiry is generally intended to be as objective as possible in order to reduce the biased interpretations of results.
  • The choice of method often depends largely on what the researcher intends to investigate.
  • Nonprobability sampling is any sampling method where some elements of the population have no chance of selection or where the probability of selection can't be accurately determined.

• Preparing the Research Report

  • Like any research paper, sociological research is presented with a literature review, an overview of the methods used in data collection, and analysis, findings, and conclusions.
  • In striving to be as objective as possible in order to reduce biased interpretations of results, sociological esearch papers follow the scientific method .
  • Without assurance that the research is based on sound methods, readers cannot countenance any conclusions the researcher proposes.
  • In the methodology section, be sure to include: the population, sample frame, sample method, sample size, data collection method, and data processing and analysis.
  • The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.

• Determining the Research Design

  • A research design encompasses the methodology and procedure employed to conduct scientific research.
  • Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, identifiable features distinguish scientific inquiry from other methods of obtaining knowledge.
  • In general, scientific researchers propose hypotheses as explanations of phenomena, and design research to test these hypotheses via predictions which can be derived from them.
  • Another distinction can be made between quantitative methods and qualitative methods.
  • In contrast to the scientific method, which follows the hypothesis-testing model in order to find generalizable results, the interpretive framework seeks to understand social worlds from the point of view of participants.

• The Sociological Approach

  • The sociological approach goes beyond everyday common sense by using systematic methods of empirical observation and theorization.
  • This scientific approach is what differentiates sociological knowledge from common sense.
  • Thus, to obtain sociological knowledge, sociologists must study their world methodically and systematically.
  • These theories are then tested by using the scientific method in order to assess the theory's validity.
  • In this way, sociology is more rigorous than common sense, because sociologists test and modify their understanding of how the world works through scientific analysis.

• Sociology and Other Social Sciences

  • The social sciences comprise the application of scientific methods to the study of the human aspects of the world.
  • Social sciences diverge from the humanities in that many in the social sciences emphasize the scientific method or other rigorous standards of evidence in the study of humanity.
  • Thus, Aristotle studied planetary motion and poetry with the same methods; Plato mixed geometrical proofs with his demonstration on the state of intrinsic knowledge.
  • His book, Leviathan, was a scientific description of a political commonwealth.
  • One of the most persuasive advocates for the view of scientific treatment of philosophy is John Dewey (1859-1952).

• The Scientific Method

  • A scientific method or process is considered fundamental to the scientific investigation and acquisition of new knowledge based upon verifiable evidence.
  • In addition to employing the scientific method in their research, sociologists explore the social world with several different purposes in mind.
  • The method is commonly taken as the underlying logic of scientific practice.
  • The essential elements of a scientific method are iterations and recursions of the following four steps:
  • A scientific method depends upon a careful characterization of the subject of the investigation.

• Early Thinkers and Comte

  • Many researchers argued that sociology should adopt the scientific methodology used in the natural sciences.
  • This scientific approach, supported by Auguste Comte, is at the heart of positivism, a methodological orientation with a goal that is rigorous, objective scientific investigation and prediction.
  • The scientific method has been applied to sociological research across all facets of society, including government, education, and in the economy.
  • Today, sociologists following Comte's positivist orientation employ a variety of scientific research methods.
  • Though quantitative methods, such as surveys, are most commonly associated with positivism, any method, quantitative or qualitative, may be employed scientifically.

• Sociology Today

  • Contemporary sociology does not have a single overarching foundation—it has varying methods, both qualitative and quantitative.
  • Although sociology emerged from Comte's vision of a discipline that would subsume all other areas of scientific inquiry, that was the future of sociology.
  • As all spheres of human activity are affected by the interplay between social structure and individual agency, sociology has gradually expanded to focus on more diverse subjects such as health, medical, military and penal institutions, the Internet, and the role of social activity in the development of scientific knowledge.
  • The range of social scientific methodology has also expanded.
  • The discipline's dominant scientifically-oriented areas generally focus on a different set of theoretical perspectives, generally referred to as sociological theory.