The science
What does science consist of? What is science? What are the elements of science? What is the structure of science? How many types of science are there? When is science born? What is science for, that is, what is its application and its fundamental purpose? What truth criteria does science use to test conjectures or hypotheses? What are the epistemological, ontological, logical and psychological bases of science?
Hypotheses (units of analysis, variables, logical elements)
Theories (high and low level), laws, postulates, principles.
Introduction
Throughout history, human beings have faced countless obstacles and problems to unravel the mysteries or secrets of nature, both to live from it and to be in perfect harmony with it. The entire humanity owes this great effort to ancient Greece since the philosophers of nature were interested in finding an instrument or path that would allow understanding natural phenomena, and that is how Greece is considered as the cradle of science, and for this it has It was necessary to employ very diverse strategies, from maieutics, dialectics, logic, to the scientific method that is used today.
The construction of scientific knowledge implies hard work and dedication, since it is necessary to go a long way in which different levels of abstraction are linked (imagination, creativity, analysis, synthesis, reasoning, concepts, hypotheses, theories, etc.). they comply with certain methodological principles and various stages or phases are covered in the process of investigating phenomena to achieve objective knowledge at the end of the path, that is, that corresponds to the reality being studied.
But the purpose of science is also to describe, to be able to explain and predict natural and social phenomena.
In the construction of scientific knowledge, theories, laws and hypotheses are used, and systematized observations and experiments - which are generally carried out based on theoretical systems and hypotheses - are used to investigate the processes and objects that interest him.
But the development of scientific knowledge has no end. As theory and daily practice unfold, scientific knowledge is refined.
Since nature is infinite in its forms, then scientific knowledge does not end since reality is constantly flowing, that is, it is constantly changing and, therefore, scientific theories and laws must be permanently contrasted with reality. in order to understand it, and to explain it.
In the knowledge process, it is necessary to arm oneself with both theoretical-methodological means (concepts, categories, hypotheses, laws, theories) and technicians (apparatus, instruments and techniques for collecting empirical data, such as: questionnaire, interview, etc.).
What is science or what does science consist of?
Science is a set of laws or theories, axioms, theorems, principles, hypotheses, proofs, definitions, concepts, formulas, etc., which are organized in a systematic way, that is, within a logical order, in such a way that the The first pages serve as the basis for those that follow, thus forming a set of linked knowledge, one dependent on the other (introduction to the scientific method, Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 28).
Science is a conceptual system, that is, it is made up of a series of concepts (abstract thought), such as intellectual expressions, and therefore universal, that try to manifest certain characteristics of reality that can no longer be expressed in simple image or sensitive or empirical knowledge.
Science is simultaneously construction and paradigm. That is, reason (inductive, deductive, and analog) builds a model based on the surrounding reality, thus originating a dialectic or interaction between reality and model, and vice versa. On the one hand, the observation of reality provides data to refine the model, and, on the other hand, the model helps us to capture more fully the reality in its evolution, so that in certain cases it is possible to forecast the phenomena studied and produce some effects that supposedly benefit man (introduction to the scientific method, Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 64).
Science is a scientific, systematic, methodical and well-founded knowledge. And also science becomes a universal and necessary paradigm (introduction to the scientific method, Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 45).
Science through knowledge and scientific thought continually seeks the show, the argument, the reasons logical-methodological, causes, tests that settled for it corresponds to the reality studied, so it is important to mention that the science it is verifiable knowledge, open to the public, available to anyone who has the qualities necessary to understand and understand it (introduction to the scientific method Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 43).
Science is a paradigm, by which it is meant that it is a conceptual model of reality. Science tries to express reality in what it is and in its way of acting. Now, this model is universal, that is, it is not content to describe singular cases, but characteristics generally applicable to all cases expressed by the concept used. The basic cell of science is, therefore, the concept, whose structure gives rise to universal thought (introduction to the scientific method Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 88).
Science seeks the logical, moral, ontological and psychological truth of reality (that is, comparing impressions with ideas).
Scientific knowledge necessarily requires knowledge empirical or sensible and intellectual or rational knowledge. The first tells us about the phenomena; the second is the one that captures the relationships between these phenomena (introduction to the scientific method, Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 28).
The purposes or goals of the scientist are:
Describe, explain, understand, interpret, predict and control the processes that intervene in the phenomena studied.
The most elementary purpose of scientific knowledge is the description of phenomena. This description consists of an explanation of the observable characteristics.
Explaining reality means unraveling its content, giving the causes for which a phenomenon takes place, explaining what is involved in a phenomenon, noting the relationships that events and things actually hold between each other; it is a mental operation by which a singular phenomenon is captured within a universal concept. Thus, for example: the tides, the lunar attraction, gravity (introduction to the scientific method, Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 83).
General methods (analytical and synthetic)
The act of explaining is a higher mental operation than the act of describing or narrating. The description and narration focus exclusively on an expression of the facts as they have been observed. On the other hand, an explanation, like the one that science tries, goes deeper, since it achieves a discovery and an interconnection of elements and relationships that did not appear at first sight.
Intellectual analysis (analytical method) is the basic operation in this explanation that we now detect as the purpose of science (introduction to the scientific method, Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 84).
Explaining a phenomenon means, according to what has already been said, revealing the relationships or implications that phenomenon has with others; it also means explaining elements or relationships that were implicit; And, it can also be understood as the connection of a matter with its reasons, causes or conditions that somehow produce it or make it understand the fact of its existence and its determined characteristics (introduction to the scientific method, Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 101).
The analytical method
Analysis (analytical method) is, therefore, a mental operation , and consists of finding new elements, relationships and structures that were implicit in the initial data. Here is the basis of all science. This mental encounter of new elements and relationships must be immediately supported by the confrontation with reality. In this way, it is clearly seen that the scientific method has stages of an empirical nature (sensible contact with material phenomena) and stages of rational lack (formulation of hypotheses, laws, and discoveries of implications, relationships, etc., depending on the analytical operation that we are describing).
The synthetic method
Explaining also consists of formulating synthesis (synthetic method), that is, integrating various data that apparently exist scattered, without connection, or even, are presented as exclusive or contradictory. This type of explanation is one of the most ambitious and satisfying goals for human intelligence. Reaching unity means finally conquering fullness and rewarding rest. The great theories of the wise scientists tend to unity. The case of Einstein is known, who sought the formulation of a unitary field that would explain all reality (t. Rel. Gral.)
The simplest case of synthesis (synthetic method) is the formulation of a concept, which maintains a certain unity of meaning, despite the real diversity that in fact occurs in each of the objects expressed by that concept. The great theories (high-level theories), basically, what they pursue is the discovery of certain concepts, whose amplitude is completely universal and that, at the same time, contain expressive characteristics of that reality, and not simple hollow categories that only they serve to classify different types of entities (introduction to the scientific method, Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 101).
In short, explaining reality, as a proper task of science, consists of revealing the background of elements, relationships and structures that actually occur in every phenomenon, until achieving the unity of an all-encompassing, harmonious and realistic panorama. This is the goal of science as a paradigm of the real. And at the same time, this description of science constitutes a paradigm regarding what is intended to be a given science (introduction to the scientific method, Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 101).
Thanks to scientific knowledge, it has been possible to know in advance when the eclipses of the sun and the moon will take place, when the high tide and the low tide will come, when the crisis of a disease will appear, when a financial crisis will appear or monetary inflation, etc.
The practical utility of science. The prevention and cure of diseases, measuring school learning, attitudes, and also in decision-making in relation to phenomena of nature and society such as: cyclones, tides, temperatures, global warming, glacial melting, effect greenhouse, economic crisis, political crisis, poverty, school dropout, educational crisis, epidemics, etc. In addition, the facilitation of some tasks such as: operating machines, household appliances, bodily and even psychic mechanisms.
The cientific method
The scientific method is precisely in charge of indicating to us what is the procedure that ensures a good selection of trials. Observation and experimentation are the means used by the scientific method to confront its body of propositions (introduction to the scientific method, Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 54).
Method, by its etymological root, means through a path. A method, in general, is the viable way or procedure to achieve a proposed end. Therefore, the scientific method would be, then, the appropriate procedure to achieve the ends of factual and formal science (introduction to the scientific method, Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 103).
Thanks to a good method, the scientist achieves, with greater security, the control of variables, technological production, the explanation of reality and intellectual satisfaction (introduction to the scientific method, Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 103).
The scientific method is, therefore, the way or procedure by which the ends of scientific thought are obtained, with greater effectiveness and efficiency (introduction to the scientific method, Gutiérrez, Sainz Raúl, p. 105).
The empirical aspect of the scientific method is carried out in two different stages: observation and experimental verification. In addition, there are other stages at the rational level, which are interspersed between the previous two (empirical aspect), and are: the formulation of questions and the formulation of hypotheses. Later, we can consider another rational stage, such as the formulation of axiomatic theories.
Therefore, it can be said that a scientific research scheme contains five stages, which are called fundamental stages in scientific research.
Observation of a phenomenon.
Formulation of a problem.
Formulation of a hypothesis that explains it.
Justification or verification (experimental or rational) of this hypothesis.
Elaboration of a law, a principle, a definition or a theory.
Natural Sciences
Keywords
Science, scientific method, general method, particular method, specific method, epistemology, teleology, functionalism, idea, thought, concept, theory, judgment, argumentation, hypothesis, law, tautology, postulate, model, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, variable (independent, dependent, collateral), index, phenomenon, empirical fact or fact, intellectual data, sensible knowledge, intellectual or rational knowledge. Cognitive or intellectual operation, subject, object.
History of science
Knowledge development
Scientific task
Scientific research is anything but a simple task since there are no definitive models or guidelines and the road is riddled with various obstacles that only those who are prepared are capable of saving and who also possess a spirit of perseverance.
The formation of science is done from the theory and not from the real even when the real is the true starting point to start the knowledge process, since the concepts, categories and their interrelationships (hypotheses, laws, theories) they are elaborated in accordance with objective reality, leaning, of course, on other theoretical elements.
The scientist in his eagerness to know and explain the physical world of the forms that surround him began to venture down paths hitherto unknown, formulating conjectures or hypotheses, theories and also conducting experiments with the object and purpose of discovering and understanding the laws that govern the processes in the different areas of the surrounding reality.
Investigation project
The objectives of science are: knowledge and explanation of the facts or phenomena that allow the scientist at a certain moment to control, predict and manipulate the results or the appearance of said phenomenon.
Elements of the scientific method
When a researcher confronts an object of study, he uses the scientific method to try to understand it and design an explanatory model. This method is based on observation, measurement, testing
Controlled empirical, verification and repetition of the phenomenon or experiment.
The phases of the experimental method
The steps of the experimental method are: statement of the problem, structuring of the theoretical framework or background, the elaboration of the hypothesis, experimental design, obtaining and analysis of the results and conclusions or recommendations derived from the research project.
Elements of experimental design
In the experimental design, the work plan or schedule, the procedure, the subjects (project population and the representative or probabilistic sample), the instruments and the variables that are measured, the hypothesis (units of analysis, the variables and logical elements). The most common design is that of the control group and the experimental group.
The phenomenon is a logical construction of concepts, while the concept symbolizes the empirical relationships and the phenomena that are related to the fact.
The hypothesis
The hypothesis is the central axis around which the investigation turns; it is the link between the problem statement and its empirical verification.
The hypothesis is an assumption that is tentatively proposed to solve a problem posed, seeking the relationship between the variables and the phenomenon under study.
However, not all assumptions should be considered as hypotheses, since this “is the formulation that relies on an organized and systematized knowledge system, which establishes a relationship between two or more variables, to explain and if it is possible to probabilistically predict the phenomena that interest us, in case the established relationship is verified ”.
Criteria in the formulation of the hypothesis
They must refer to an area of social reality. The concepts must be clear and precise, the concepts must have realities. They must foresee the techniques to test them. They must be built with a statement that is intended to be proven.
Empirical testing of the hypothesis
It begins with the formulation of the hypothesis, which involves a tentative solution to the problem statement.
The independent and dependent variables are identified and separated to measure them.
Variables are measured by means of their indicators.
The indicators are the basis for preparing the questionnaires.
The questionnaires provide us with information on the variables, through data that must be processed.
The processing and concentration of data allows us to analyze and interpret it.
The analysis and interpretation are carried out by applying the statistical models, which are the parametric and non-parametric tests of the research carried out, which must be analyzed.
The analysis of the information, provided by all the questions, their interrelation and support in the theoretical and reference framework, will allow us to test or disapprove the hypothesis.
If the hypothesis is tested, then we have a thesis.
For example
The longer you follow through on class planning in high school, the greater your achievement of program goals will be.
The greater the economic dependence of the Latin American countries with respect to the countries with a higher level of development within the capitalist system, the greater will be the political, social and cultural dependence, which will reduce the respective state's decision-making capacity in its internal affairs. and external.
The objective of a scientific investigation is what has to be demonstrated from a problem (object of study) or from the proposed hypothesis, which allows us to formulate general and specific objectives.
Selltiz tells us that the objective of the research is to discover answers to certain questions through the application of determined scientific procedures. These procedures have been determined and developed with the aim of increasing the degree of certainty that the information gathered will be of interest to the question being studied and that it also meets the characteristics and conditions of reality and objectivity.
Research objectives
The objectives of the investigation are the basic tasks that are fulfilled in the creation of all kinds of scientific knowledge; this is:
Describe, classify or classify, relate, explain, and predict.
Descriptive objectives: the objective of this research is to describe the psychosocial characteristics of people who manifest political apathy.
Classificatory or typological. “Classify entrepreneurs according to the rationality dimension of their decisions. Make a typology of the teachers according to the effectiveness of their teaching in the students. ”
Comparative objectives: to compare the returns of basic, middle and higher education.
Relational objectives. To determine the relationships between self-perceptions of success and failure, and occupational achievement in education professionals.
Explanatory objectives. To determine the differential effects of the family's socioeconomic condition, family values and expectations, the family-school link and the child's school performance on her eventual dropping out of school.
The five types of objectives indicated can be formulated as general objectives and, within each of them, as specific objectives.
Variable selection
This task involves selecting the group of variables that are required to achieve the research objectives. There are three types of variables
Main commonly used for these purposes.
The dependent variables or phenomena to be studied, which are mentioned in the objectives; examples: school performance, level of health, low participation, school dropout, social vulnerability, etc.
The independent variables that influence the dependent variables or that are related to each other, according to the conceptual framework of the study; examples:
Parents' schooling, socioeconomic level, exposure to the media, religiosity, etc.
Variables that make it possible to form subgroups of the studied population, to make comparisons of the ways in which the objectives are given in such subgroups; examples: subgroups according to age, occupation, education, size of communities, clinics, hospitals, schools, etc.
Theories or theoretical elements
It refers to the laws or theories that govern the phenomenon or object of study, that is, the principles, rules or norms that the different authors have issued in this regard.
The theory is a tracing, an approximate copy of objective reality (insofar as it represents its essential aspects and relationships) and if it is in motion, the theory requires a constant confrontation with reality to explain the new processes that arise in certain plot of reality.
The theory, through the hypothesis, directs contact with reality (observations,
Experiments) in order to extract sufficient and necessary empirical data for its verification; empirical knowledge, in turn, can serve as a basis for the construction of new knowledge by proposing hypotheses to guide future research.
The theory goes beyond empirical facts to include others that were not taken into account and which are understood through the generalizations that were made based on theoretical elements and empirical data; This allows explaining and predicting other phenomena inserted within a certain plot of reality.
This is because empirical knowledge (data from observations, experiments, and measurements) always refers to a small number of cases, while theoretical knowledge (hypotheses, laws, theories) covers a very large number of facts or cases of a class.
The conceptual framework
Also called theoretical framework and background framework, it constitutes the thematic or problematic area from which the research problem is derived. In other words, this framework is made up of theories about the object, conceptualizations, results of research already carried out, critical comments on some studies, techniques used and, in general, other elements that allow for a clear and updated formulation of the The state of the subject area analyzed within which the problem will be studied finds its meaning and justification.
The conceptual framework is formulated shortly after the research problem proposed by the researcher.
When pointing out the relationship between the research problem and the conceptual framework, it is important to mention that this problem is derived from or is included in the framework in terms of the general theme dealt with by other researchers.
In the conceptual framework, the researcher should not only focus on defining concepts, but should refer to the instinctive approaches that different authors have on the research problem that is being analyzed.
The conceptual framework allows the researcher to project a philosophical thought, pointing out the lines that the development of the work will follow and that can be of different types such as: materialist, positivist, neopositivist, idealist, etc.
Aristotle
It is fundamentally based on the following categories:
- The psychological perspective The logical perspective The ontological perspective
Preparation of the research project
The research project is a document in which the components addressed provisionally in the first approach are systematized and expanded, and others perhaps treated at that time are added. In this way, the research project comprises the following components and tasks that are indicated for each of them, which are carried out once the researcher has completed the first stage:
Formulating the research problem.
Elaboration of the conceptual framework of the problem.
Formulation of the research objectives.
Variable selection.
Research purposes.
Determination of the methodological design.
The final presentation of the project must also include a work schedule, a detailed budget and the way in which the research results will be published.
All research aims to create or build specific knowledge about a certain object of reality. On the other hand, without the existence of a body of knowledge with a greater or lesser degree of organization, it is not possible to carry out an investigation that claims its qualification as scientific investigation.
Even so, when he already decides to carry out research in real settings and has chosen the research topic (for example, health in the sectors of marginal populations, child labor, the political difference of youth, etc.), that researcher does a first review of the relevant and updated bibliography to specify the topic and then the problem to which the research project will try to respond.
What is a project?
It is a unique process that consists of a set of coordinated activities, with start and end dates, carried out to achieve an objective (a general one through specific objectives: vision and mission), according to specific requirements, including restrictions of the time, costs and resources (ISO 10006).
Elements of the research project
The research topic or problem
The conceptual framework
Research problem or hypothesis
Operational definition of some variables
Methodology (design used).
Population sample (type and size).
Measuring instruments used.
Techniques used in data analysis.
Results presentation
Explanations
Study limitations
Methodological design
Methodology or methodological design is the strategy used to meet the research objectives. At a general level, this strategy has three main options to use:
An experimental design, a quasi-experimental design or a non-experimental design. These types of methodological designs belong to the type of quantitative research.
As mentioned, in objectives, they can have one or more of the following analysis tasks:
Describe, classify, compare, relate and explain. In quantitative research, there are for each of these types of objectives a series of techniques applied to the analysis of collected empirical field data.
Once the research methodological design has been chosen, the researcher must specify the following components and tasks included in it.
Population in which the research will be carried out
Type and size of the sample to be used
Elaboration and description of the instruments that will be used to collect the information: for example, questionnaire, structured observation, scale to measure attitudes or other underlying variables, etc.
Procedure for information processing:
Coding of empirical data.
Techniques for the analysis of empirical data, according to the objectives of the research.
For the descriptive analysis: tables of frequencies, measures of central tendency, of variability, shapes of the distributions, etc.
For relational analysis: cross tabulations, association measures for nominal, ordinal and proportional variables.
For typological analysis: property space, cluster analysis.
For comparative analysis: with descriptive statistics in a universe or in a sample (comparison of two proportions, of arithmetic means, analysis of variance, analysis of covariance).
For explanatory analysis: multivariate analysis techniques (multiple regression, logistic regression, trail analysis, etc.).
Recommended material and readings
The Cartesian Doubt Method
The French René Descartes (1596-1650) is considered the first modern philosopher. He used science and mathematics to explain and forecast events in the physical world. If I couldn't verify it, I didn't believe in anything. His most remembered phrase ("I think, therefore I am") shows his main idea: the only thing we cannot doubt is our thoughts.
The English John Locke (1632-1704) maintained that all our knowledge is based on experience, on what happens to us; when we are born we have nothing in the intelligence, our brain is a blank sheet on which life will leave its marks. In addition, his ideas also served to establish the foundations of what is today democracy, since he was one of the first philosophers to affirm that sovereignty belongs to the people, and not to gods or kings, so they must be tolerant. Another consequence follows: that the revolution against an unjust ruler could, in some cases, be legitimate.
The main theory of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is that all people are capable of learning thanks to reason, which allows us to know what is good for us and what is not. He supposed that his philosophy was applicable to everyone, that it was universal, although, curiously, he never left the city where he was born. This has not prevented him from being considered by many as the most influential thinker of the modern era. His fundamental belief in freedom, reason and the progress of humanity clearly frames him in the illustration.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
The German Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) defended that the history of humanity is a chain of conflictive events that always have two faces (thesis and antithesis) and a way to solve or overcome the conflict: synthesis. His ideas did not appeal much to either the Lutheran church, to which he belonged, or the Prussian government (ancient Germany), but they had a decisive influence on all subsequent philosophy.
The objectives of science are: knowledge and explanation of facts or phenomena to control, predict and manipulate their appearance or results, or to determine the return periods of a natural or social event or event.
Bibliographical sources
- Gutiérrez, Sáenz Raúl. Introduction to the scientific method. Editorial esfinge, sa De CV México, 2004.Briones, Guillermo. Methods and techniques for social science research. Fourth edition. Threshing editorials. Mexico, 2003. Ruiz, Limon Ramon. The scientific method and its stages. Mexico, 2006. Www.gestiopolis.comRuiz, Limon Ramon. Science and the scientific method. México, 2007. Www.gestiopolis.comRuiz, Limon Ramon. The history and evolution of scientific thought. Www.monografias.comLuna, Castillo Antonio. Thesis methodology. Third reprint. Threshing editorial. México, 2002. Microsoft ® encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 microsoft corporation. All rights reserved.
Our wonderful planet, called the blue planet
One of the smallest spaces in the universe, but still, it is a special place, a perfect paradise and copy of the world of ideas. A perfect and harmonious place, where the imagination, thought and all the cognitive and affective processes of the human being are possible, a microscopic world where the human mind exercises.
But who can believe that on planet earth inhabit human beings, who make wars, fight each other, like wolves and wild animals, with the help of military weapons, who can believe this ?, but, anyway, if it is probable and possible, since if the human being is in a continuous or constant process of evolution, everything is possible.
It is conceivable that war (syntropy and entropy) is like a path towards the psychological, affective and volitional balance of the badly called human being, being rational, because there is nothing rational and human, as long as it continues destroying its environment, and contaminating the environment. air and nature, and murdering and destroying its own species.
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