www.educationforum.co.uk
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Many scientists claim there is a clear distinction between
science and the supernatural. A good recent example is
Richard Dawkins who in ‘The God Delusion’ 2006 makes
the following observations about science and religion;
‘Fundamentalists know they are right because they have
read the truth in a Holy Book.... the truth of the Holy Book
is an axiom, not the end product of a process of
reasoning. The book is true and if the evidence seems to
contradict it, it is the evidence which must be thrown out,
not the book. By contrast, what I as a scientist believe, I
believe not because of reading a Holy Book but because I
have studied the evidence..... When a science book is
wrong somebody eventually discovers the mistake and it is
corrected in subsequent books. That conspicuously does
not happen with Holy books’
According to Dawkins then science is
characterised by;
1. Objectivity – the scientist is neutral
2. Scientific enquiry is evidence based –
conclusions are based on evidence not
preconceived ideas
3. Scientific enquiry is ‘open’ – ideas which are
tested and ‘falsified’ are rejected and more
accurate ones replace them.
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Michael Lynch (1983) asserted that science is far
less objective than scientists claim. Lynch studied
scientists experimenting on lab rats and
concluded that the scientists were far more
influenced by their existing theories than other
may have thought. Specifically when ‘anomalies’
occurred i.e. results they were not expecting,
they were put down to unnamed errors in the
production of photographs they were studying
rather than as evidence towards a new theory or
hypothesis.
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Positivists like Comte believed that sociology is scientific.
It is about gathering information about the social world,
classifying data and drawing conclusions that uncover ‘the
social laws’ which govern human society. Durkheim took
this position a little further by claiming that by using his
technique of multivariate analysis ‘social facts’ can be
uncovered.
Multivariate analysis is the attempt to isolate the impact of
independent variables (the causes of something), on the
dependent variable (the something which has been
caused). For instance working class underachievement in
school might be seen as the dependent variable and
material deprivation, and teacher labelling the
independent variables. Durkheim believed that by complex
in depth statistical analysis the independent variables
could be measured and a social law established.
The early positivists used an inductive
approach. This means data was first
collected, studied, analysed and then a theory
or hypothesis composed. The hypothesis is
then tested and conclusions drawn. If it was
repeatable (reliable), the hypothesis became a
social fact.
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The deductive approach is similar the inductive approach
only in reverse. Popper stressed that theories or
hypotheses could spring from anywhere such as flashes of
inspiration (eureka moments) or even from dreams. What
is crucial however is how hypotheses are tested. This must
occur rigorously and scientifically. Popper rejected the
idea that there are permanent social laws governing
human behaviour claiming that any ‘law’ could at some
point be falsified no matter how many times it has been
proved correct in the past. The famous example he gave
was the hypothesis ‘all swans are white’ which can be
proved thousands of time until you encounter a black
swan. Popper said the aim of science and social science
should be to constantly strive to falsify theories. This point
arguably distinguishes science from religion and
supernatural belief systems.
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Roger Gomm suggests that most scientists and social scientists
try to prove rather than falsify theories and that their ideas
should be viewed in the social context from which they emerged.
Gomm cited the example of Darwin and his theory of evolution
to explain his position. Gomm suggests that Darwin’s theories of
natural selection and the competitive struggle for the survival of
the fittest were not supported by all of the evidence. Darwin
therefore missed the opportunity to ‘falsify’ aspects of his
theories. Gomm suggests the reason for this was ideological
rather than scientific. The survival of the fittest theory fitted
neatly into Victorian capitalist ideology of free market capitalist
economics, individualism and a minimalist approach to welfare
of the time. Gomm therefore emphasises the importance of
placing ‘science’ in its social context. Scientific knowledge can
be in part seen as socially constructed.
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Thomas Kuhn challenges the idea that science is
objective
Kuhn in ‘The structure of Scientific Revolutions’
introduces the idea of scientists at certain times in
history working in a paradigm. A paradigm as used
by Kuhn refers to the framework of accepted ideas in
which they operate. A paradigm might include ideas
on truth, validity and methodology. Kuhn argues that
scientist will tend to work within the paradigm and
thus seek evidence which supports the paradigm until
such time as anomalies are so strong as to precipitate
a paradigm shift or revolution. A new ‘normal science
paradigm’ is established and the process begins
again.
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Q1. According to Dawkins what distinguishes
science from religion?
Q2. What is the difference between an
inductive and a deductive scientific approach?
Q3. What is meant by falsification and why is
it viewed as important to the scientific
process?
Prefer methods similar to those used in the
natural sciences
Surveys, cross-sectional surveys, longitudinal
studies, experiments, field experiments, case
studies
Using your A2 books and last years notes make
sure you are able to describe and evaluate
each of these methods
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Positivist methodology uses processes to
ensure representativeness. If the sample
surveyed is representative of the wider whole
it is possible to generalise the conclusions.
Representativeness is established through
sampling techniques.
Revise the following sampling techniques:
random (systematic and stratified), cluster,
quota, snowball.
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Assess the view that positivistic methods are
inappropriate for understanding society (40
marks)