The Scientific Method: Science Research and Human

Knowledge by Koyal Info Mag

Science research is a rich mine of valuable knowledge if one knows how to go about it
with care and precision. As in all scientific endeavours, there is a system to follow
whether one is trying to solve a simple problem such as how to kill garden weeds or
improving on Einsteins Theory of Relativity.
Even before the advent of the Internet and the unlimited amount of knowledge and
information we have available in a matter of seconds, research has generally been
misunderstood as a simple process of going to the library (Googling, for most of us
today) and getting the data one needs to make a report or thesis. Unfortunately, this is
nothing but a single step in the whole process of scientific research. Academics will call
this data-gathering or collating observations.
The purpose of scientific research is to observe physical phenomena and to describe
them in their operation or functions. The essential question is WHY. Why do things
behave as they do? We can predict some things because it is how things are supposed
to behave; but we want to know the causes of such phenomena. Discovering the
causes through our research, we can then explain these things and use the knowledge
to our advantage in many practical ways. That is, we can then build ships that can carry
as many people as we can or explain that the moon, like the apple, is falling into the
Earth because it is subject to the force of gravitation. Why it never crashes into the Earth
is another question which Newton, fortunately, had to settle for us.
Science research or what others would call the Scientific Method requires several steps
to be considered one. Let us look at them with simple examples for the beginner:

1. Basic or general questions about a phenomenon
Sometimes, it all starts with a casual observation followed by a curious question. Why do
apples fall? Why do boats float? It takes a child-like mind to be curious about ordinary
but intriguing things.

2. Setting a Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a statement of supposition. For instance, we can say that the Earth is flat
and proceed to prove it. A hypothesis is, in reality, a result of general questions we have
about real-life problems or phenomena. Whereas the ancient people believed that the
world was flat and had an edge where you could fall from, today, we simply assume
(without even knowing the basic evidences) that it is an orb. On the other hand,
showing a photograph of the Earth taken from outer space may be a shortcut method
of disproving the hypothesis. But it is only an indirect or circumstantial evidence and is
not, technically speaking, a viable scientific proof. One must follow the entire method to
its completion.

3. Predicting outcomes
Based on our initial observations related to the questions we have posed for ourselves,
we come up with possible outcomes. An orange, a ball or a rock will always fall no
matter how far or how high you throw it. Why does a bird not fall? We can come up
with other questions that may make the initial question irrelevant. Hence, we can either
incorporate others observations or limit ourselves to the first simple question and deal
with others separately.
The main key in predicting in research is basing our assumed outcomes on solid reason
or logic. Unlike Aristotle who assumed that iron fell faster than an apple and that an
apple fell faster than a feather, we now know and can predict that they all fall at the
same speed due to gravity in a vacuum. Our awareness of wind resistance and friction
allows us to predict more accurately than other people before.

4. Testing the hypothesis
We then set up a method of investigation or a series of experimentation to check
whether the hypothesis works for all instances or conditions. Tossing an apple or a rock
into the air ten times or a hundred times will not change the outcome. From that
observation, we can somehow accept the fact that a certain law applies for the apple as
for a rock. What that is is something we can hypothesize as well. For now, we know that
it applies for all objects, including a bird that is shot dead in mid-flight.

5. Deriving conclusions or explaining the hypothesis
Having observed the hypothesis being tested and reinforced so many times and seeing
how the outcome displays a certain pattern, we can then derive general conclusions of
fact. Any object, no matter how heavy or big it is will always fall to the ground. We
know this for a fact because we have seen it happen so many times and have proven it
ourselves by the many times we have played basketball or baseball.
In its crudest form, we can say that the scientific method is nothing but highly-
systematized common-sense knowledge derived at through a strict process. By
ourselves, we also all went through several conscious steps of determining a fact or a
truth within the physical realm we live in. Yes, we came up with the same conclusion on
our own without having to know or apply this precise method; but other more stringent
phenomena cannot be handled simply using simple observations. We need precise
tools, instruments and other research results to prove more sophisticated problems.
For example, we might need to send a probe to outer space to prove what a comet is
made of, how it behaves in outer space and how it came into existence. For that, you
need vast range of technology to discover the facts you need: a rocket, computers, high-
tech cameras, advanced communication facilities and other precise, delicate instruments
to measure physical phenomena in outer space. At this very moment, a space probe
named Rosetta is poised to land on a comet to perform such an unprecedented
scientific research.
We can say this latest research rides upon hundreds and thousands of other research
studies in the past, proving how knowledge ostensibly expands without limits. What
Galileo and Newton learned several centuries ago have helped us discover other things
we now take for granted. And yet, we all seem to be asking the same basic question:
Where do all things come from? In that sense, scientific research essentially deals with
who we are, what we are and where we came from.
All knowledge centers on what makes us humans. And the question will continue to
challenge as well as baffle us.