DOCSLIB.ORG

The Scientific Process

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Scientific Process The Scientific process How people think it works… So, what is a scientific theory? The word "theory" means something very different in everyday language than it does in science: to the average person, a theory is just an idea… A scientific theory is an explanation of something that has been demonstrated through repeated experiments or testing. A scientific theory also makes predictions that can be tested. How are scientific theories developed? How science works EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY Making Asking New technology observations questions Personal motivation Practical problem Serendipity Curiosity Surprising observation Sharing data and ideas Finding Exploring the inspiration literature Gathering data Expected Actual Hypotheses results/observations results/observations Interpreting data Supportive, contradictory, surprising or inconclusive data may... ...inspire ...support a revised hypothesis. assumptions. Develop Address Feedback and Replication technology societal issues peer review ...inspire ...oppose a revised/new hypothesis. hypothesis. Discussion with Publication Build Inform colleagues knowledge policy TESTING Coming up Satisfy Solve everyday Theory with new curiosity problems building IDEAS questions/ideas BENEFITS AND COMMUNITY OUTCOMES ANALYSIS AND FEEDBACK www.understandingscience.org © 2008 The University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Regents of the University of California Example of a theory that has been tested: A new theory was postulated in the early 1900s to explain geologic evidence:“Plate Tectonics” • Earth’s surface is divided into many plates that move slowly over the surface and interact with each other • Their movements are driven from below - internal heat and convection in the Earth • This was a REVOLUTIONARY idea when proposed "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.” Marcello Truzzi The Scientific Method as school & science fairs often present it What do you see missing here? Science Process in astronomy • In astronomy, we can’t easily “conduct experiments” - we need to patiently wait for nature to carry out experiments that we can observe • We start with process for distributing telescope time at Kitt Peak (or, what is Colette doing today, Oct 25-26?) Take-away message: Scientists deal with natural events which can be observed, measured, and tested by scientific methods. Scientific study is based upon the assumption that the universe is orderly, reasonable, and testable. A valid scientific theory offers a well-defined naturally occurring cause (mechanism) which explains why or how a natural event (phenomenon) occurs. Scientific theories are always subject to change. The processes of science are very successful in dealing with problems within the limits of science. Homework: the scientific process. Read article about asteroids and dinosaurs and underline points that indicate science is being done Index: Things we might test: Is the moon really larger when its on the horizon? Is it true that you can only balance an egg on its end on the equinoxes? Is the moon larger when it rises than a few hours later? I took this picture a few minutes after moon rise, Nov. 16 , a few years ago I took the second picture at 10:30 PM, with same setup Which is larger? Measure and find out! • Common Elements of Pseudoscience • Dr. Douglas Duncan • University of Colorado • • Not all characteristics are always present, but many often are. If you see them, watch out! Without proper scientific skepticism you may well get fooled, sometimes jeopardizing you money or your health. Remember, “Science is a Way of Trying not to Fool Yourself!” – Nobel Prize winner and wonderful character Richard Feynman. • • How to tell if something is Pseudoscience. Beware if it… • • Is based on Post-diction, not Pre-diction (story is made up after the fact) • Explains things people care about that may not have other explanations (avoids the scientific response, “We don’t know,” which people often find unsatisfactory) • Uses scientific-sounding language and jargon (often incorrectly; e.g. “energy flows”) • Does NOT use the scientific method of clearly stating the hypothesis and then making a test • Usually has an explanation even when the idea fails (e.g. “astrology is only a tendency,” “the faith-healing treatment must have been started too late,” etc.) • If it contradicts known scientific principles or is not generally accepted, the originator of the theory claims to be “persecuted by the scientific (or other) establishment,” is not recognized because “the jealous establishment,” etc. How Science is actually conducted • A scientist, often a team, describe how they test a new phenomenon, which may come from an idea, or may spring out of other work… • Results published in a peer reviewed journal • Many other scientists try to replicate the first study: if they can, the hypothesis gains credibility in the field • Peer review, refereed journals: papers submitted are sent to anonymous referees, experts in that area, for comments. Etc. Article not published until referee is satisfied .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Sacred Rhetorical Invention in the String Theory Movement
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Communication Studies Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research Communication Studies, Department of Spring 4-12-2011 Secular Salvation: Sacred Rhetorical Invention in the String Theory Movement Brent Yergensen University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/commstuddiss Part of the Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons Yergensen, Brent, "Secular Salvation: Sacred Rhetorical Invention in the String Theory Movement" (2011). Communication Studies Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research. 6. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/commstuddiss/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Communication Studies, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication Studies Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. SECULAR SALVATION: SACRED RHETORICAL INVENTION IN THE STRING THEORY MOVEMENT by Brent Yergensen A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Major: Communication Studies Under the Supervision of Dr. Ronald Lee Lincoln, Nebraska April, 2011 ii SECULAR SALVATION: SACRED RHETORICAL INVENTION IN THE STRING THEORY MOVEMENT Brent Yergensen, Ph.D. University of Nebraska, 2011 Advisor: Ronald Lee String theory is argued by its proponents to be the Theory of Everything. It achieves this status in physics because it provides unification for contradictory laws of physics, namely quantum mechanics and general relativity. While based on advanced theoretical mathematics, its public discourse is growing in prevalence and its rhetorical power is leading to a scientific revolution, even among the public.
    [Show full text]
  • What Scientific Theories Could Not Be Author(S): Hans Halvorson Reviewed Work(S): Source: Philosophy of Science, Vol
    What Scientific Theories Could Not Be Author(s): Hans Halvorson Reviewed work(s): Source: Philosophy of Science, Vol. 79, No. 2 (April 2012), pp. 183-206 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Philosophy of Science Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/664745 . Accessed: 03/12/2012 10:32 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and Philosophy of Science Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Philosophy of Science. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.67 on Mon, 3 Dec 2012 10:32:52 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions What Scientific Theories Could Not Be* Hans Halvorson†‡ According to the semantic view of scientific theories, theories are classes of models. I show that this view—if taken literally—leads to absurdities. In particular, this view equates theories that are distinct, and it distinguishes theories that are equivalent. Furthermore, the semantic view lacks the resources to explicate interesting theoretical relations, such as embeddability of one theory into another.
    [Show full text]
  • Causes As Explanations: a Critique*
    JAEGWON KIM CAUSES AS EXPLANATIONS: A CRITIQUE* Causes certainly are connected with effects; but this is because our theories connect them, not because the world is held together by cosmic glue. 1 Norwood Russell Hanson ABSTRACT. This paper offers a critique of the view that causation can be analyzed in terms of explanation. In particular, the following points are argued: (1) a genuine explanatory analysis of causation must make use of a fully epistemological-psychological notion of explanation; (2) it is unlikely that the relatively clear-cut structure of the causal relation can be captured by the relatively unstructured relation of explanation; (3) the explanatory relation does not always parallel the direction of causation; (4) certain difficulties arise for any attempt to construct a nonrelativistic relation of caus- ation from the essentially relativistic relation of explanation; and (5) to analyze causation as explanation is to embrace a form of "causal idealism", the view that causal connec- tions are not among the objective features of the world. The paper closes with a brief discussion of the contrast between the two fundamentally opposed viewpoints about causality, namely causal idealism and causal realism. It is little more than a truism to say that causes explain their effects, or that to ask for the cause of an event is to ask for an explanation of why or how the event occurred. This close association between causation and explanation is amply mirrored in language: we answer 'why'-questions with 'becuase'- statements, and surely there is more than an orthographic resemblance between 'cause' and 'because'. The association is also ancient: it goes back to Aristotle, who characterized true, scientific knowledge as knowledge of the 'why' of things, that is, knowledge of the cause that makes a thing what it is and not something else.
    [Show full text]
  • LD5655.V855 1993.C655.Pdf (11.60Mb)
    SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE, SOCIOLOGICALT HEORY, AND THE STRUCTURE OF RHETORIC by James H. Collier Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in Science and Technology Studies APPROVED: Y— Joseph C. Pitt, Chair Aone ble EtaaT hone, Steve Fuller Elisworth Fuhrman April, 1993 Blacksburg, VA LD S635 VE5S , DaQa cose} aM’~ Scientific Discourse, Sociological Theory, and the Structure of Rhetoric James H. Collier Graduate Program in Science and Technology Studies Chair: Joseph C. Pitt (ABSTRACT) This thesis examines the rhetorical, analytical and critical efficacy of reflexivity and sociological theory as means for reconciling the normative and descriptive functions of the rhetoric of science. In attempting to define a separate research domain within Science Studies, rhetoric of science has borrowed Strong Program and constructivist principles and descriptions of scientific practice from the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK) as a basis for analyzing scientific discourse. While epistemological claims in the social sciences have been considered inherently self-referential and subject to reflexive analysis and critique, rhetoricians have generally taken these claims on face value and applied them to a treatment of scientific practice. Accordingly, rhetoricians have maintained a natural ontological attitude to sociological theories and descriptions supporting an understanding of scientific discourse as implicitly rhetorical. Recently, however, the concept of "rhetoric" in rhetoric of science has come under scrutiny. This thesis will connect arguments involving the relation of the "irreducibly social" nature of science, to a concept of scientific discourse as rhetorical "without remainder,” to the philosophical commitments of reflexive analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • Notes: Scientific Method and Scientific Notation Prof
    Notes: Scientific Method and Scientific Notation Prof. Fiore, [email protected] Scientific Method The scientific method is a means of uncovering and explaining physical phenomena. It relies on observation and logical reasoning to achieve insight into the actions and relations of the phenomena, and a means of relating it to similar items. The method starts with observations and measurements. Based on these and background knowledge such as mathematics, physics, the behavior of similar phenomena, and so on, a tentative explanation, or hypothesis, is derived. The hypothesis is then tested using experimental or field data. The precise nature of the tests depend on the area of study, but the idea will always be the same: namely to see if the predictions of the hypothesis are borne out under alternate applicable conditions or data sets. A proper hypothesis must be testable and falsifiable. That is, the hypothesis must be able to be proven wrong by subsequent observation. If it is not, then the hypothesis is better classified as philosophy. For example, Newtonian gravitation could be proven false by letting go of a suspended hammer and watching it remain motionless or fall upwards, rather than fall down toward the Earth. Similarly, Evolution could be proven false by the discovery of “fossil rabbits in the Precambrian”, to quote famous biologist J. B. S. Haldane (Haldane was being somewhat snippy, but in general, he meant anything that would be clearly out of the expected time-line, in this case a small mammal predating even the most simple creatures with backbones). A hypothesis is tested by repeated cycles of prediction, observation and measurement, and also subject to peer review, that is, the critique of others in the field of study who may point out inconsistencies in the explanations or logic, errors in experimental design, and so on.
    [Show full text]
  • The Law of Causality and Its Limits Vienna Circle Collection
    THE LAW OF CAUSALITY AND ITS LIMITS VIENNA CIRCLE COLLECTION lIENK L. MULDER, University ofAmsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands ROBERT S. COHEN, Boston University, Boston, Mass., U.SA. BRIAN MCGUINNESS, University of Siena, Siena, Italy RUDOLF IlALLER, Charles Francis University, Graz, Austria Editorial Advisory Board ALBERT E. BLUMBERG, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J., U.SA. ERWIN N. HIEBERT, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., U.SA JAAKKO HiNTIKKA, Boston University, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. A. J. Kox, University ofAmsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands GABRIEL NUCHELMANS, University ofLeyden, Leyden, The Netherlands ANTH:ONY M. QUINTON, All Souls College, Oxford, England J. F. STAAL, University of California, Berkeley, Calif., U.SA. FRIEDRICH STADLER, Institute for Science and Art, Vienna, Austria VOLUME 22 VOLUME EDITOR: ROBERT S. COHEN PHILIPP FRANK PHILIPP FRANK THELAWOF CAUSALITY AND ITS LIMITS Edited by ROBERT s. COHEN Boston University Translated by MARIE NEURATH and ROBERT S. COHEN 1Ii.. ... ,~ SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data Frank, Philipp, 1884-1966. [Kausalgesetz und seine Grenzen. Englishl The law of causality and its limits / Philipp Frank; edited by Robert S. Cohen ; translation by Marie Neurath and Robert S. Cohen. p. cm. -- (Vienna Circle collection ; v. 22) Inc I udes index. ISBN 978-94-010-6323-4 ISBN 978-94-011-5516-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-5516-8 1. Causation. 2. Science--Phi losophy. I. Cohen, R. S. (Robert Sonne) 11. Title. 111. Series. BD543.F7313
    [Show full text]
  • Physics and the Philosophy of Science at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
    Physics and the Philosophy of Science at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (Forthcoming in the Enciclopedia Italiana di Storia della Scienza under the title, “Fisica e Filosofia della Scienza all’Alba del XX Secolo”) I believe that philosophy can be helped to its feet again only if it devotes itself seriously and fervently to investigations of cognitive processes and the methods of science. There it has a real and legitimate task . Philosophy has obviously come to a standstill because it . still has taken no new life from the vigorous development of the natural sciences. — Hermann von Helmholtz to Adolf Fick, ca. 1875 (as quoted in Koenigsberger 1902–1903, 243) Introduction: Disciplinary Symbiosis Theoretical physics and the philosophy of science are among the most important fields of research in the twentieth century, this as gauged both by their prominence within their respective disciplines and by their broader social and intellectual impact. Yet in 1850 neither field, as we know it today, would have been recognized in the academy or elsewhere as constituting an autonomous mode of inquiry with associated institutional structures. With hindsight, each might be glimpsed in germ. Some would read Hermann von Helmholtz’s 1847 lecture, Über die Erhaltung der Kraft (Helmholtz 1848) as marking the advent of the search for generalizable explanatory structures whose deployment is a distinguishing mark of theoretical physics. Some would read Auguste Comte’s Cours de philosophie positive (1830–1842) or William Whewell’s The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences (1840) as inaugurating the systematic study of those general questions about scientific method, the nature and limits of scientific knowledge, and the structure and interpretation of scientific theories whose focal significance later defined the field in the form made famous by the members of the Vienna Circle.
    [Show full text]
  • Four Examples of Pseudoscience
    Four Examples of Pseudoscience Marcos Villavicencio Tenerife, Canarias, Spain E-mail address: [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6700-4872 January 2020 Abstract A relevant issue in the philosophy of science is the demarcation problem: how to distinguish science from nonscience, and, more specifically, science from pseudoscience. Sometimes, the demarcation problem is debated from a very general perspective, proposing demarcation criteria to separate science from pseudoscience, but without discussing any specific field in detail. This article aims to focus the demarcation problem on particular disciplines or theories. After considering a set of demarcation criteria, four pseudosciences are examined: psychoanalysis, speculative evolutionary psychology, universal grammar, and string theory. It is concluded that these theoretical frameworks do not meet the requirements to be considered genuinely scientific. Keywords Demarcation Problem · Pseudoscience · Psychoanalysis · Evolutionary psychology · Universal grammar · String theory 1 Introduction The demarcation problem is the issue of how to differentiate science from nonscience in general and pseudoscience in particular. Even though expressions such as “demarcation problem” or “pseudoscience” were still not used, some consider that an early interest for demarcation existed as far back as the time of ancient Greece, when Aristotle separated episteme (scientific knowledge) from mere doxa (opinion), holding that apodictic certainty is the basis of science (Laudan 1983, p. 112). Nowadays, the issue of demarcation continues being discussed. Certainly, demarcating science from pseudoscience is not a topic of exclusive philosophical interest. Scientists and members of skeptical organizations such as the Committee for Scientific Inquiry also deal with this crucial theme. The issue of how to recognize pseudoscience not only affects academia.
    [Show full text]
  • SCIENTIFIC REALISM in the AGE of STRING THEORY Richard Dawid
    SCIENTIFIC REALISM IN THE AGE OF STRING THEORY Richard Dawid String theory currently is the only viable candidate for a unified description of all known natural forces. This article tries to demonstrate that the fundamental structural and methodological differences that set string theory apart from other physical theories have important philosophical consequences. Focussing on implications for the realism debate in philosophy of science, it is argued that both poles of that debate become untenable in the context of string theory. On one side the claim of underdetermination of scientific theories, which represents a pivotal element of empiricism, looses its appeal. On the other side the dissolution of any meaningful notion of an external ontological object destroys the basis for conventional versions of scientific realism. String theory seems to suggest an intermediate position akin to Structural Realism that is based on a newly emerging principle, to be called the principle of theoretical uniqueness. An appreciation of string theory’s considerable impact on basic conceptions of philosophy of science can also contribute to a clearer picture of string theory’s status and relevance in a scientific context. 1: Introduction In one respect quantum mechanics is like the music of Arnold Schönberg: Its restricted accessibility awards eternal youth. The conception that was created 75 years ago to replace the failing laws of classical physics in the microscopic world still looks fresh and exciting and remains the paragon of a modern scientific theory. The unshakable status of the quantum principle as the grand enigma at the base of modern physical inquiry has a peculiar consequence however: It keeps the intellectual community outside a small group of experts strangely insensitive to the significance of the newer developments in foundational physics.
    [Show full text]
  • The Humanist Perspective, in Social Science : the Case of Erich Fromm.
    THE HUMANIST PERSPECTIVE, IN SOCIAL SCIENCE: THE CASE OF ERICH FROMM KENNETH 0 ' BRI EN B.A. (Honours) Social Sciences, University of Leicester, England, 1968 M.A., Sociology, Simon Fraser University, 1969 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Pol itical Science, Sociology and Anthropology @ KENNETH O'BRIEN 1972 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY April 1972 APPROVAL I Name : Kenneth 0' Brien Degree : Doctor of Phi 1osophy Title of Di ertation: The Humanist Perspective in Soci a1 Science: The Case of Erich Fromm Examining Committee: Chairman: Gary Rush Ernest Becker Senior Supervisor Karl Peter Heribert Adam Jeral d Zasl ove John ~fiaar External Examiner University of Cal ifornia, Santa Cruz, Cal ifornia Date Approved: L$L3L3A97L I ABSTRACT The dissertation is an examination of Erich Fromm's contribu- tion to humanist social science and a discussion of this contribution. It is suggested that From~n'smajor contribution is not accessible to social scientists in its directly apparent form. As a serious contri- bution to social science the immediately apparent meanings, of Fromm's ideas which are rendered at first reading of his writings, are quite 'deceptive. ' This deceptive quality in Fromm's opus has tended to re- sult in a number of critical articles and books on Fromm which stress his contributions as being that of an ethical philosopher rather than as a social scientist. This type of judgement has serious implications for the present situation whereby Fronun's work is generally regarded to be on the periphery of "institutional ized social science" conceptual- izations and consequently for advancement of the more recent development toward theoretical integration of the various disciplines which come under the rubric of the social sciences (i.e., sociology, social psy- chology, pol itical science and anthropology) .
    [Show full text]
  • Pre-Service Science Teachers' Discrimination Level Of
    ORIGINAL ARTICLE Pre-service Science Teachers’ Discrimination Level of Science and Pseudoscience Murat Berat Uçar1* Elvan Sahin2 1Department of Mathematics and Science Education, M. R. Faculty of Education, Kilis 7 Aralik University, Kilis, Turkey, 2Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Faculty of Education, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey *Corresponding author: [email protected] ABSTRACT This quantitative study aimed to examine Turkish pre-service science teachers’ beliefs regarding the demarcating between science and pseudoscience. Participants completed the Science and Pseudoscience Distinction Scale. Data collected from the 123 pre-service science teachers were examined based on the dimensions of the instrument, namely science as a process of inquiry (SCI), demarcating between science and pseudoscience, and pseudoscientific beliefs (PS). This study found that these pre-service science teachers generally did not hold strong beliefs on distinguishing science and pseudoscience. Their beliefs regarding SCI were not highly favorable. Moreover, this study revealed that they had some PS. Considering the role of gender and year in the program, the results of two-way MANOVA indicated that there was no statistically significant difference on the related belief constructs for these pre-service science teachers. Thus, the present study intended to shed light on pre-service science teachers’ mindsets about identifying accurate scientific information rather than pseudoscientific confusions that could aid preparing scientifically
    [Show full text]
  • The Nature and Structure of Scientific Theories - C
    HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY – Vol. I - The Nature and Structure of Scientific Theories - C. U. Moulines THE NATURE AND STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC THEORIES C. U. Moulines Seminar für Philosophie, Logik und Wissenschaftstheorie,University of Munich, Germany Keywords: axiom system, axiomatization, basic concept, constructive empiricism, data model, definition, empirical claim (of a theory), instrumentalism, metatheoretical structuralism, model, modelistic conceptions (of theories), observational concept, radical empiricism, scientific realism, set-theoretical view (of theories), theorem, theoretical concept, two-levels view (of theories), truth (of a theory). Contents 1. Introduction 2. The problem of the meaning of scientific concepts 3. The axiomatic construction of a scientific theory 4. The formalist conception of theories 5. Theories as interpreted calculi 6. The radical empiricist view of scientific theories 7. The two-levels view of empirical theories 8. Model building as a bridge between theory and experience 9. The modelistic determination of empirical theories 10. Are successful scientific theories true? 11. Conclusion Glossary Bibliography Biographical Sketch Summary This chapter is devoted to two central questions in philosophy of science that are closely related to each other: What are the adequate criteria to identify scientific theories (to distinguish one theory from another)? How are theories scientifically (ideally) structured? ItUNESCO is argued that, to answer thes –e questions, EOLSS a first step to be made is to discuss the issue of the determination of the meaning of scientific concepts. For this, the axiomatic method to lay out scientific theories in a completely precise way is of great value. However, in the case of empirical theories, this method alone is insufficient.
    [Show full text]