SKW 320

1. SKW 320 Kuliah 3

2. The Nature of Science SCIENTIFIC METHOD

3. INTRODUCTION What is Science? • Science is a body of knowledge • Science is a way of knowing based on experimental or observational evidence and its interpretation. • Science is a discipline largely defined by its primary method – the scientific method.

4. SCIENTIFIC METHOD An endeavour to construct an accurate representation of the world.

5. Sea Breeze • This is a natural breeze that blows from the sea towards the land during the day. • It is caused by the land and the sea having different heat capacities.

6. Land Breeze • This is a natural breeze that blows from the land towards the sea during the night. • It is caused by the land and the sea having different heat capacities.

7. Science is from the Latin word, scientia, to know. • Science is an objective, logical, and repeatable attempt to understand the principles and forces operating in the natural universe. • Good science is not dogmatic (rigid), but should be viewed as an ongoing process of testing and evaluation. = Scientia To Know

8. Humans seem (naturally) interested in the world we live in. Young children drive their parents batty with constant "why" questions. Science is a means to get some of those whys answered. • When we shop for groceries (foodstuff), we are conducting a kind of scientific experiment. If you like Brand X of soup, and Brand Y is on sale, perhaps you try Brand Y. If you like it you may buy it again, even when it is not on sale. If you did not like Brand Y, then no sale will get you to try it again. WHY?

9. Provisional Assent – Scientific Ideas Can Only Be Proven Wrong • A theory stands because observations or experimentation never proves its tenets wrong. • This doesn’t prove the theory is correct – only that its never been proved wrong. • In this sense, scientific knowledge is provisional (temporary).

10. But what’s a theory? Fact, Hypothesis and Theory • A fact is an undisputed (certain) piece of information derived from observation. • A hypothesis is a testable prediction • A good hypothesis should be falsifiable. • A theory is a general set of principles that explain some natural phenomenon. • Examples of scientific theories are the theory of gravitation, the atomic • Theory: the cell theory, the theory of evolution.

11. The scientific method offers an objective way to evaluate information to determine what is false. • The late astronomer Carl Sagan, pointed out that "Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of facts “ • A 1998 National Academy of Sciences book contains a superb chapter that distinguishes between facts and theories and between scientific beliefs and faith. • In scientific terms, "theory" does not mean "guess" or "hunch" as it does in everyday usage. • Scientific theories are explanations of natural phenomena built up logically from testable observations and hypotheses. . . .

12. In scientific terms, "theory" does not mean "guess" or "hunch" as it does in everyday usage. • Scientific theories are explanations of natural phenomena built up logically from testable observations and hypotheses

13. Scientists most often use the word "fact" to describe an observation. • But scientists can also use "fact" to mean something that has been tested or observed so many times that there is no longer a compelling reason to keep testing or looking for examples. . . .

14. Usually "faith" refers to beliefs that are accepted without empirical [observed] evidence. • Most religions have tenets (system of belief) of faith. Science differs from religion because it is the nature of science to test and retest explanations against the natural world. • Thus, scientific explanations are likely to be built on and modified with new information and new ways of looking at old information. This is quite different from most religious beliefs.

15. Therefore, "belief" is really not an appropriate term to use in science, because testing is such an important part of this way of knowing. • If there is a component of faith to science, it is the assumption that the universe operates according to regularities. . . . This "faith" is very different from religious faith.

16. Science Works in 4 Specific Ways:Principles, Processes, Characteristics, & through a Cultural Context Image from evolution.berkeley.edu website.

17. 1-Science has Principles • Explain the natural world • Explanations tested with evidence from the natural world • We can learn about the natural world by gathering evidence

18. 2- Science Is A Process • Scientific claims are based on reasoning, testing, and replication; “falsifiable”-to prove that something is incorrect • Theories are central to scientific thinking. Images from evolution.berkeley.edu website.

19. 3- Characteristics of Science • Conclusions are reliable, though tentative • Science is not democratic • Science is non-dogmatic • Science cannot make moral or aesthetic decisions. Rosa californica, courtesy of G. L. Smith.

20. 4- Science Exists in a Cultural Context • Science is not always a direct ascent toward the truth. • Science corrects itself. • Science is a human endeavor: a) Falling in love with one’s own hypothesis b) Being drawn in by preconceptions Image from evolution.berkeley.edu website.

21. Summary of Key Word and Scientific Process Observation about unexplained phenomenon Causal Questions E.G Why questions • Abduction • From scientific observation • to tentative explanation • Creativity • Recall: Long term memory • Use analogy • Previous experience • Related research If… Alternative Hypotheses Tentative ideas to explain phenomenon Conclusion The hypotheses are supported or contradicted And.. Observed Results What actually happens Experiments Test conditions then.. Comparison Deduction From a non observable explanation and experimental to specific observable consequences Expected Result What should happen; What is predicted

22. Natural Sciences and Human Sciences • Is there a sharp division between human and natural sciences in terms of methods, concerns and status? The answers depend on your philosophical position: two schools of thought

23. Natural and Human Sciences

24. No difference in kind between Natural and Social Sciences • Traditional empiricists would argue that there is no difference and both natural and human sciences, to be legitimate, must use the same (natural science) methodology – founding and guaranteeing their knowledge through observation and experiment.

25. Difference in kind between Natural and Social Sciences • Human sciences are essentially different on account of the meaningfulness of human behaviour. Human sciences yield legitimate knowledge but must use different methods to the natural sciences.

26. Causal Explanation of Human Behaviour • J S Mill in the 19C argued that any phenomena displaying regular patterns were a fit subject for science and all natural phenomena, including human behaviour displayed regularities. • The same methodological strategies must be employed in both cases to establish by inductive processes the true causal explanations of observed regularities. • Human behaviour is to be explained by recourse to the same principles as are used to explain complex physical systems.

27. Some problems • In what sense can psychological processes of thinking, feeling etc. be reduced to physiological processes? – Different logical category. But if mental events are not physical events how can they influence the physical world? • Causes of human behaviour are reasons not mechanical causes • Free will?

28. Relative lack of success in human sciences? • By which measure – • Empiricists explain lack of success by • Immense complexity • Moral and practical problems in setting up controlled experiments • Phenomena rarely occur in the same form – human behaviour subject to change – reflexive: behaviour may be changed by understandings in the human sciences themselves

29. Overcome problems by • Describe the facts more minutely • Experiment where possible • Quantify and use statistical techniques • Put forward theoretical frameworks and test them according to the hypothetico-deductive model

30. Peter Winch • There is a difference in kind between the natural and the social sciences;it is not just a matter of increased complexity. The phenomena of the natural sciences do not endow themselves with meaning; humans, however, do endow their behaviour with meaning.

31. Analysis and explanation of human action must involve concepts of purposeand intention • Human action is rule-following behaviour notcausally regular behaviour as in natural sciences • Imaginative understanding of the agent’s point of view

32. Conclusions • Impossible reduction of the social and psychological to the merely physical. • Psychology has been diverted when attempting to impose faulty notions of “scientific methodology of the natural sciences” to become scientific. • The naïve conception of the scientific methodology leading to true representation of the natural world is in any case mistaken.

33. References • Nagel, Thomas. What is it like to be a bat?http://members.aol.com/NeoNoetics/Nagel_Bat.html • Parker, I. (1992) Discourse Dynamics: Critical Analysis for Social and Individual Psychology. London: Routledge. Chapter 5 Power: an ecological model of text-life. http://www.discourseunit.com/pdf/DD%20PDFs/DD%20Chapter%205.pdf • Social Constructionism, Discourse and Realism 1998, Ian Parker (ed.), London, Sage. • Lodge, D Sense and sensibility: http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,823955,00.html • Harre, R “The rediscovery of the human mind” http://www.massey.ac.nz/~alock/virtual/korea.htm

34. TERIMA KASIH r_adawiah@usm.my

35. Teori: • Teori dalam sains tabii (natural sciences) adalah berkaitan dengan fenomena alam. • Teori dalam sains sosial merujuk kepada fenomena sosial atau kehidupan sosial manusia.

36. Fenomena tabii (natural phenomena), adalah tepat, tetap dan tidak berubah. Contoh: Matahari terbit di sebelah timur. Fenomena sosial (social phenomena) pula adalah sangat fleksibel dan sering berubah-ubah. Contoh: Bahasa berbeza daripada satu daerah dengan daerah yang lain.

37. Ia berubah-ubah kerana sifat semulajadi manusia itu sendiri yang tidak dapat dijangka. Fenomena sosial juga tertakluk kepada perubahan bergantung kepada faktor-faktor lain. Contoh: Apabila terdapat pengaruh kebudayaan. Oleh itu, teori yang dikemukakan berkaitan fenomena sosial adalah tidak tetap dan tidak jumud.

38. Kenapa perlu teori? • Mendapatkan maklumat/pengetahuan dan pemahaman yang tepat tentang sesuatu perkara. • Pengetahuan tentang sebab-musabab. Sebab: Alasan kenapa sesuatu perkara itu berlaku. Musabab: Kesan terjadinya sesuatu perkara. • Membantu dalam perancangan masyarakat (social planning) bagi kemajuan dan pembangunan.

39. Smith, 2005

40. Hipotesis: Model: Teori Saintifik:

41. Langkah-langkah dalam pengkaedahan saintifik: • Pemerhatian dan penerangan tentang sesuatu fenomena. • Penggubalan hipotesis bagi menerangkan fenomena tersebut. • Pengggunaan hipotesis untuk mengandaikan kewujudan fenomena yang lain / atau untuk menjangkakan keputusan bagi sesuatu pemerhatian baru. • Melakukan ujian eksperimen tentang jangkaan yang dilakukan – pengkaji bebas dan pengkaji khusus.

42. Alternative discourses vs Eurocentrism

43. Main issues: The opposition between nativist and autonomous social science The need for proper conceptualization of relevance The impact of the relationship between discourse and power on alternative discources Teaching the social sciences along the lines of the requirements of alternative cources.