Sciences scientific method

M. D. Croucher and M. A. Winnik in NATO ASI Series C Mathematical and Physical Sciences Scientific Methods for the Study cf Polymeric Colloids and their Applications, Vol. 303, F. Candau and R. H. Ottewill (eds), Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1990, pp 35-72... 

Forensics Use of science, scientific methods, and technology to investigate a crime and establish facts that are admissible in a court of law. 

Forensic science Scientific methods that aim to solve legal questions. 

The scientific method, as mentioned, involves observation and experimentation (research) to discover or establish facts. These are followed by deduction or hypothesis, establishing theories or principles. This sequence, however, may be reversed. The noted twentieth-century philosopher Karl Popper, who also dealt with science, expressed the view that the scientist s work starts not with collection of data (observation) but with selection of a suitable problem (theory). In fact, both of these paths can be involved. vSignificant and sometimes accidental observations can be made without any preconceived idea of a problem or theory and vice versa. The scientist, however, must have a well-prepared, open mind to be able to recognize the significance of such observations and must be able to follow them through. Science always demands rigorous standards of procedure, reproducibility, and open discussion that set reason over irrational belief. 

Adherence to the scientific method is what de fines science The scientific method has four major el ements observation law theory and hypothesis... 

It can be said that science is the art of budding models to explain observations and predict new ones. Chemistry, as the central science, utilizes models ia virtually every aspect of the discipline. From the first week of a first chemistry course, students use the scientific method to develop models which explain the behavior of the elements. Anyone who studies or uses chemistry has, ia fact, practiced some form of molecular modeling. 

The Sherlock Holmes stories often are read as the triumph of the scientific method of deduction. There is, though, another, darker interpretation to be advanced. That is the frustration of science and technology in changing everyday social practice. Throughout the canon, Holmes is consistently thwarted by the standard operating procedures of the Scotland Yard "regulars." He also is annoyed—and even disturbed—by the inability of Victorian... 

The claim that archaeology is a science is clearly not universally held. Many archaeologists suggest that the study of human behaviour in the past is restricted by science, with its apparent rigidity of scientific method and dubious claims of certainty, and must continue to reside with the humanities. Undoubtedly, archaeology is one of the few disciplines which straddles the gulf between the humanities and the sciences. 

Learning the Scientific Method Through the Historical Approach. School Science and Math, 53, 637-43 (1953). 

The purpose of this discussion of science, clearly, is to apply it to herbal medicine. The reputed uses of drugs may not always be accurate or effective. Applying the scientific method to herbal medicine therefore allows us to test the traditional uses and to know with greater certainty what an herbal medication does and how reliably it does it. Although far from infallible, the process as a whole gives us greater confidence in our conclusions. 

It is a commonly held view that the scientific method of inquiry is, or at least ought to be, objective in the sense that it should transcend the personal value system of the researcher. The terms bad science, better science or best science are often used to connote the perceived degree of objectivity of a particular scientific activity

. Further, trans science is a term which was coined to sort and label putative encroachments upon "objective science by issues that can be posed as scientific questions but cannot be answered by the available means of scientific experimentation(15). The term was introduced because it was thought that the division of technologically important issues into scientific and trans-scientific would significantly reduce the problems of converting data into useful iformation. 

As will be shown below, the notion that science is objective is mistaken and the mistake contributes to many of the problems encountered when scientific reseach has immediate economic or political consequences(16-21). It should not be surprising that years after the introduction of the concept of trans-science, we still observe difficulty, conflict and general misunderstanding not of what science can or cannot do, but of what science does do and how. The reason is a general lack of appreciation that the scientific method of inquiry is inherently and specifically subjective and that it requires a value system without which it simply cannot be applied. 

Because of the interest in and popularity of alternative and complementary medicines and healing practices, the scientific method is being applied to a wide variety of these remedies. Different types of studies seek to establish if and how individual, alternative medicines exert their effect. Clinical trials are being conducted to compare a specific alternative medicines with the accepted conventional medical standard of care for a specific condition thus, for example, an herbal extract may be compared with a pharmaceutical-grade drug to demonstrate unequivocally the safety and effectiveness of a product or practice. However, complementary and alternative medicine has only recently been deemed worthy of scientific scrutiny (for decades many natural remedies and practices were dismissed outright as being obviously inferior to Western science-based medicine), and many alternative therapies have not yet been... 

The science of the origin of life has to adopt the deterministic, continuity view - otherwise it would not be possible to adopt a scientific method of inquiry,... 

Thus literate programming appears ideally suited to the task of publication in computational molecular physics and quantum chemistry, and indeed, in other computational sciences and in engineering. This task must entail placing both the theoretical model and the associated computer code in the public domain, where they can be subjected to the open criticism and constructive use which forms an integral part of the scientific method. 

Two comments are pertinent. First, any scientific method will give a reduced view - the world as we see it is not the real world . Hence the term holistic seems to promise more of science than can be fulfilled. Second, since reduction is a powerful approach in science that can contribute significantly to learning, the term reductionist , which often has a negative ring, should be used only where a science is unaware of the consequences of reduction or denies that there are any such consequences. 

The purpose of this work — and of Radar, Hula Hoops and Playful Pigs, my previous attempt at demystifying science — is to provide a few scientific glimpses into the workings of our complex world. My hope is that by offering explanations for a variety of common phenomena I can help the reader develop a feel for how the scientific method functions, and at the same time, lay down a solid foundation for critical thinking. 

Science deals only with hypotheses that are testable. As such, its domain is restricted to the observable natural world. While scientific methods can be used to debunk various claims, science has no way of verifying testimonies involving the supernatural. The term supernatural literally means above nature. Science works within nature, not above it. Likewise, science is unable to answer such philosophical questions as What is the purpose of life or such religious questions as What is the nature of the human spirit Though these questions are valid and have great importance to us, they rely on subjective personal experience and do not lead to testable hypotheses. 

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