SCIENCE AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
BUSN 364 – Week 3
Özge Can
The scientist is not a person who gives the
right answers, he's one who asks the right
questions.
~Claude Lévi-Strauss, Le Cru et le cuit, 1964
Why Do Research?

Research can help you to:
 Understand
the world around you
 Make better decisions in daily life and
professional life
 You
use critical thinking skills in research.
 Critical
thinking => The practice of carefully examining
and questioning ideas.
What is Research?

Research is a process that utilizes specific
principles and skills resulting in a product:
 The
product is knowledge or information.
 Research results are answers to questions.
 Good research raises new questions.
Social Science Research


Social science research affects every domain of life
Dozens of topics and fields within social research:


Law and public safety, schooling, health care, psychology,
economics, political issues, business activities, international
affairs and etc.
We use knowledge and principles of social science
research directly or indirectly in:

Relationships with family, friends and co-workers,
participate in community life or public policy, make daily
decisions in business, professional and personal life.
Social Science Research:
Methodology and Methods



Methodology is broader and envelops methods:
Methodology => understanding the entire research
process, including its social-organizational context,
philosophical assumptions, ethical principles and impact
of new knowledge
Methods => collection of specific techniques we use
in a study to select cases, measure and observe social
life, gather and analyze data and report on results.
What Research Involves:



Gathering and studying preexisting information from
various sources and making sense of it,
Applying specific techniques and principles and carefully
studying events and facts in social reality,
Using critical thinking.
All of the above, plus:

It relies on the process and evidence of science =>
scientific method
Scientific Method

Science:
A
way of knowing about “how the world works”
 Both a system for producing knowledge and the
accumulated knowledge that results from that system
 Combination of rationalism (logic) and empiricism
(observation)
 Emerged
out of a major shift in thinking 400 years
ago: The Enlightenment period (1600s-1700s)
Science has been developed by the triumphs and struggles
of individual researchers:
Galileo facing the Roman Inquisition, Cristiano Banti, 1857.
Scientific Method

Rationalism
 Using
reason (logic) to
derive new knowledge
from old knowledge
 Reliable conclusions
can be derived from
established facts if one
uses logic

Empiricism
 Direct
and indirect
evidence
 To provide the initial
facts on which theories
might rest
 To test the predictions
from theories by seeing
if they are accurate
Scientific Method
Why do we need science?


Curiosity and enjoyment
Describing, explaining and predicting
 Portraying
the phenomenon, understanding-identifying
its causes, anticipating outcomes

Controlling
 Manipulating
conditions/ environment
I have no special talents. I am only
passionately curious.
--Albert Einstein (The Evolution of Physics)
Scientific Method


Science combines assumptions about the world;
accumulated understandings; an orientation toward
knowledge; and many specific procedures, techniques
and instruments
Two key terms in science:
Theory => a coherent system of logically consistent and
interconnected ideas
 Empirical Data => forms of evidence or information
carefully collected according to the rules and procedures of
science

Alternatives to Scientific Knowledge

Commonly used alternatives to scientific research:
 Personal
experience & intuition
 Common sense
 Experts and authorities
 Popular media
 Ideological beliefs and values
Alternatives to Scientific Knowledge

Common Sense
 “it’s
the way things have always been”, “it is what
everybody thinks/does”
 People
might fix their knowledge based on some social
or cultural consensus
 But this erroneous “common sense” misperceptions have
real negative consequences
 Also, the reasons for believing something may change
over time, so what was seen as true in the past may
change.
Alternatives to Scientific Knowledge

Personal Experience
 People
may decide that something is universally true
based on their own limited experience.
 The “truth” may be limited to that individual and it can
lead to wrong directions.
 Everyday reasoning and perceptions are imperfect,
misleading and subject to error. More significantly, we
rarely notice or catch such errors.
Alternatives to Scientific Knowledge

There are five major errors in our everyday decisions.
Scientific research process tries to reduce them:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Overgeneralization
Selective observation
Premature closure
Halo effect
False consensus
*Read the details of these errors from your textbook.
Alternatives to Scientific Knowledge

Authorities and Experts
 Often,
we accept something as being true because
someone with expertise or in a position of authority says
it is so. But it has lots of limitations.
 Authorities/ experts might promote ideas that strengthen
their power and position.
 It
is important for us to learn how to think independently
and evaluate research on our own.
Alternatives to Scientific Knowledge

Personal Beliefs and Values
 Simply
believing something because you don't want to
give up your belief.
 Some people reject science and instead promote and
defend actions based on their political, religious or
ideological beliefs.

Popular Media
 Many
of us rely on the mass media (i.e., film, television,
newspapers, magazines nad Internet sources) for
information
 But media can distort reality and social issues
An Example:
4
Why Is Scientific Knowledge Superior?
Characteristics of Scientific Research
Control —Manipulation, management and removal of certain
variables or factors through rigorous designs
Systematic and Generalizable— Follows widely-accepted
principles and procedures; concepts and measurementd are
clearly specified and well defined; results can be generalized
Empirical—The acquisition of knowledge via objective and
systematic collection of data rather than individual preferences
and beliefs
Replicable— Other scientists can repeat the research to see if the
same results occur
Self-Correcting (Falsifiable)— A system of challenges by which
scientific claims can be verified; other scientists can scrutinize them
Even if the open windows of science at first make us
shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional
humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor,
and the great spaces have a splendor of their own.
~Bertrand Russell, What I Believe, 1925
Scientific Literacy:



The capacity to understand scientific knowledge; apply
scientific concepts, principles, and theories; use scientific
processes to solve problems and make decisions; and
interact in a way that reflects core scientific values.
Researchers have concluded that only about 28% of
Americans are scientifically literate
What do you think: How scientifically literate are Turkish
people?
Pseudoscience


Many people still lack scientific literacy or confuse
real science with pseudoscience
Pseudo means: “fake”
A
body of ideas or information clothed in the
jargon and outward appearence of science that
seeks to win acceptance but that was not created
with the systematic rigor or standards of the
scientific method
Pseudoscience




We may face pseudoscience through television,
magazines, films, newspapers, highly advertised special
seminars or workshops.
Combining some scientific facts with myths, fantasy or
hopes to claim a “miracle cure”, “revolutionary learning
program”, “evidence of alien visitors” or “new age spritual
energy”
To further illustrate the pseudoscientific thinking and its
many examples, visit the Skeptics Dictionary:
http://www.skepdic.com/
Norms of the Scientific Community:
Universalism
 Organized Skepticism
 Dis-interestedness
 Communalism
 Honesty

Why Learn About Social Research
Methods?





To learn what scientific research is
To become a critical consumer of information; to
develop critical and analytic thinking
Learn to properly evaluate and use others’ research
and their results
Not only understand research outputs but the
research process itself and implement it
Preparation for professional career
Key Topics in This Course:

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

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How can I research something systematically?
How can I deal with a research problem?
What are the different research models and methods
that I can make use of?
What is the implementation of a research?
(propositions, measurement, sampling and etc.)
How will I choose among different data collection and
analysis options?
How can I check the validity and reliability of a
research method utilized in a study?
How can I write and present my research?
For Fun...


Watch => The PBS NOVA episode, “Secrets of the
Psychics” (1997), provides a very interesting
assessment of the role of science in testing
pseudoscientific ideas. Pseudoscience critic James
Randi exposes the tricks of psychics and other
charlatans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTXmo4_LR4w