SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF RESEARCH & ITS SPECIAL FEATURES

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Research Methods STA630

Lesson 2

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. What is this approach? Or what is science?

When most people hear the word science, the first image that comes to mind is one of test tubes,

computers, rocket ships, and people in white lab coats. These outward trappings are part of science.

Some sciences, such as the natural sciences deal with the physical and material world. Some other

sciences involve the study of people their beliefs, behavior, interactions, attitudes, institutions, and so

forth. They are sometimes called soft sciences. This is not that their work is sloppy or lack rigor but

because their subject matter, human social life, is fluid, formidable to observe, and hard to measure

precisely with laboratory instruments. The subject matter of a science (e.g. human attitudes,

protoplasm, or galaxies) determines the techniques and instruments (e.g. surveys, microscopes, or

telescopes) used by it.

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. Observation here implies that

scientists use "sensory experiences" for the study of the phenomena. They use their five senses, which

are possessed by every normal human being. They not only do the observation of a phenomenon but

also repeat the observation, may be several times. The researchers do so because they want to be

accurate and definite about their findings

Re-observation may be made by the same researcher at a different time and place or done by other

professionals at some other time or place. All such observations are made in this universe where a

normal professional human being can go, make the observation and come back. Therefore we are

focusing on this universe not on the one hereafter. 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. In this way

science refers to both a system for producing knowledge and the knowledge produced from that system.

Since the subject matters of the researchers differ, therefore, we have the diversification of different

sciences: broadly natural or physical sciences and human sciences.

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.

Research Methods STA630

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. Of

the identified causes which ones can be the most important? For example, in the 2006 BA/BS

examination of the Punjab University 67 percent of the students failed. What could be the determinants

of such a mass failure of students? The researcher may try to explain this phenomenon and come up

with variety of reasons which may pertain to students, teachers, administration, curriculum, books,

examination system, and so on. Looking into such a large number of reasons may be highly

cumbersome model for problem solution. It might be appropriate to tell, of all these factors which one

is the most important, the second most important, the third most important, which two in combination

are the most important. The researcher tries to narrow down the number of reasons in such a way that

some action could taken. Therefore, the achievement of a meaningful, rather than an elaborate and

cumbersome, model for problem solution becomes a critical issue in research. That is parsimony which

implies the explanation with the minimum number of variables that are responsible for an undesirable

situation.

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. For instance, if we had a hypothesis that stated that greater participation in

decision making will increase organizational commitment, and this was not supported by the results, it

makes no sense if the researcher continues to argue that increased opportunities for employee

participation would still help. Such an argument would be based, not on the factual, data based research

findings, but on the subjective opinion of the researcher. If this was the conviction of the researcher all

along, then there was no need to do the research in the first place.

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.

Research Methods STA630

6. Statistical Generalization

Generalisability 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 instance, if a researcher's findings that participation in decision

making enhances organizational commitment are found to be true in a variety of manufacturing,

industrial, and service organizations, and not merely in the particular organization studied by the

researcher, the generalisability of the findings to other organizational settings is enhanced. The more

generalizable the research, the greater its usefulness and value.

For wider generalisability, the research sampling design has to be logically developed and a number of

other details in the data collection methods need to be meticulously 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:

Logicians distinguish between inductive reasoning (from particular instances to general

principles, from facts to theories) and deductive reasoning (from the general to the particular,

applying a theory to a particular case). In induction one starts from observed data and

develops a generalization which explains the relationships between the objects observed. On

the other hand, in deductive reasoning one starts from some general law and applies it to a

particular instance.

The classical illustration of 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, and (2) rationalism i.e. the

logical explanations for regularity and then consequent ional argumentation for making generalizations

(theory).

Finally it may be said that anybody who is following the scientific procedure of doing research is doing

a scientific research; and the knowledge generated by such research is scientific knowledge. Depending

upon the subject matter, we try to divide the sciences into physical or natural sciences and the social

sciences. Due to the nature of the subject matter of the social sciences, it is rather very difficult to apply

the scientific method of research rigorously and that is why the predictions made by the social

researchers are not as dependable as the predictions made by the natural scientists.

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