Module 2. Methodological Aspects

of Research

Unit 1. The Scientific Method

What is the first thing you think about when you СОКr tСО аШrНs “the

scientific method”?

What is a method? Can you give examples of different methods?

Do you think that “the scientific method” КЧН “ЦОtСШНs ШП sМТОЧМО”

are the same things?

Can you divide research into particular stages?

What research stages do the pictures below represent? (pic. 1, a e)

Pic. 1

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Listen to the speaker and practise pronunciation of the words related to the scientific method:

Can you НiППОrОntiКtО ЛОtаООn tСО аorНs “mОtСoН”, “rОsearch mОtСoН” КnН “mОtСoНoloРв”? StuНв tСО ПolloаinР inПormКtion

and give more examples of methods. What methodology are you acquainted with?

Method is a way of doing something, especially a planned or established way. It implies an orderly logical arrangement (usually in steps).

e.g. They have adopted an alternative method of financing the scheme. Mediation is a method of solving disputes.

Methodology means the methods and principles used for doing a particular kind of work, especially scientific or academic research. Methodology can properly refer to the theoretical analysis of the methods appropriate to a field of study or to the body of methods and principles particular to a branch of knowledge.

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e.g. the methodology of a geographic survey; the methodology of modern cognitive psychology.

The term “methodology” refers to the overall approaches and perspectives to the research process as a whole and is concerned with the fol-

main issues:

why you collected certain data;

what data you collected;

where you collected it;

how you collected it; how you analyzed it.lowing

A research method refers only to the various specific tools or ways data can be collected and analyzed, e.g. a questionnaire; interview checklist; data analysis software etc.

A. Match some of the data collecting methods and their descriptions.

Valid research methods are required to permit observation of engineering design activity with the intention of collecting reliable data.

The following methods are to the fore in design research and are now briefly reviewed:

•prШtШМШХ studies;

•ОtСЧШРrКpСТМ Шbservation;

•СТstШrТМКХ Кnalysis;

•ОбpОrТОЧtТКХ Кnalysis.

Protocols involve observation of designers at work. Almost all of these studies arО ЛКsОН ШЧ аСКt аО ЦТРСt МКХХ “experimental data”, gleaned from a laboratory environment.

The ethnographic approach seeks to provide a written description of the implicit rules, traditions and behavioral patterns of a group. In an engineering context, participant observation would involve researchers gaining access to companies and working as designers or with designers to get an inside view of their activities.

Historical analysis is the discovery from past accounts or records a description or explanation for events in the past. Developments in design due to the introduction of new technology, for example, can be compared to developments in the past.

Experiential analysis. Some design researchers have drawn on their own experience of designing to give explanations of aspects of design.

Make a list of research methods, point out their purposes and advantages/disadvantages. Discuss your ideas with your group.

Make a list of research methods that you use/are going to use in your study. Account for this choice. Fill in the table.

Research method Application/Purpose Advantages/Disadvantages

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A. Look at the picture and suggest your definition of the scientific method. Then compare your ideas with definitions 1 3.

THE SCIENTIFIC

METHOD

The scientific method is a method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.

Oxford English Dictionary

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The scientific method is the process by which scientists try to construct an accurate representation of the world.

http://teacher.nsrl.rochester.edu

The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.

https://en.wikipedia .org

B. Fill in the gaps with only one key word to reveal the meaning oП tСО pСrКsО “tСО sМiОntiПiМ mОtСoН”.

The scientific method

Here is a personal view on the history of the scientific method. Read it and pick out ideas in favor of this method which seem reasonable to you.

It took a long while to determine how the world is better investigated. One way is to just talk about it. For example, you can state that males and females have different number of teeth, without bothering to check. You can then provide long arguments as to why this is the way things ought to be. This method is unreliable: arguments cannot determine whether a statement is correct, this requires proofs.

A better approach is to do experiments and perform careful observations. The results of this approach are universal in the sense that they can be reproduced by any skeptic. It is from these ideas that the scientific method was developed. Most of science is based on this procedure for studying Nature.

A. Read the title of text B and make predictions about its contents. Then check if you were right on reading it. What are the opinions about the scientific method?

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SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND METHODS OF SCIENCE

It is sometimes said that there is no such thing as the so-МКХХОН “sМi-

ОЧtТПТМ ЦОtСШН”; tСОrО КrО ШЧХв tСО ЦОtСШНs usОН ТЧ sМТОЧМО. NОЯОrtСeless, it seems clear that there is often a special sequence of procedures which is involved in the establishment of the working principles of science. This sequence is as follows: 1) a problem is recognized, and as much information as possible is collected; 2) a solution (i.e. a hypothesis) is proposed and the consequences arising out of this solution are deduced; 3) these deductions are tested by experiment, and as a result the hypothesis is accepted, modified or discarded.

B.Draw a flow chart to represent what the scientific method is. Compare your chart with those of your groupmates.

C.Explain, what these expressions mean:

a)to recognize a problem; b) to propose a hypothesis; c) to deduce consequences; d) to test deductions by experiment; e) to accept the hypothesis; f) to modify the hypothesis; g) to discard the hypothesis.

D. Guess the words and arrange them in the correct order.

_ _ _o_ _e_ _s, _e_o_ _ _ _e, _e _u _ e, _o_ _ _y, _e_t, _cc_ _t, _r_ _o_e, _ _s_ _r_, e_ _e_ _ _e _t

With your partner suggest ideas about the reasons to use the scientific method (SM). Then read the passage and fill in the table with the given expressions.

Without method, we are left with chance. Chance is the opposite of method, and we would have a very disorganized world without methods and techniques. But what is method? Unfortunately, method is an ambiguous word. It is so ambiguous that it has been widely misused and misinterpreted in the fields of science and knowledge.

Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, identifiable features distinguish scientific inquiry from other methods of obtaining knowledge. Scientific researchers propose hypotheses as explanations of phenomena, and design experimental studies to test these hypotheses via predictions which can be derived from them. These steps must be repeatable, to guard against mistake or confusion of any particular experimenter.

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Mistakes and errors; organizes our thoughts; clarifies our thoughts; ends aimless wandering; helps ideas gather shape; wrong analysis; routes to new knowledge; increases self-confidence; quick fixes; encourages conceptual thinking; no solutions; aids specific transfer of learning; confusion; doesn’t have to be reinvented; haphazard guesses; avoids relying only on intuition; wandering aimlessly; doesn’t have to be learned by osmosis; gives direction on future problems; wasted time; trains for change and innovation; wasted energy; keeps us pointed in the right direction; misdirection.

A. Study the steps of SM in more detail and illustrate them with your own examples.

B. Write a plan of your research (50 words). Include all the necessary stages. Then in your group present a report on general stages of your investigation. Let your groupmates clarify some details (see the model).

The model:

Have вШu …/ Do вШu …/ Will вШu …

When НТН/аТХХ вШu …

How НТН/НШ/аТХХ вШu …

What (ЦОtСШНs, УШurЧКХs, ОtМ.) НТН/НШ/аТХХ вШu …

Why НТН/НШ/аТХХ вШu …

How many … СКЯО/НШ/аТХХ вШu …

Study the following examples of science projects and say, what conclusion can be made about the scientific method.

1. In 1928 Alexander Fleming accidentally left a cover off a Petri dish used to cultivate bacteria. The plate was contaminated by a mold that

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contained penicillin. In this case, there was no problem or question to start with. It was an accident.

2. Albert Michelson and Edward Morley built an experiment to measure the motion of the Earth through the aether (the material that people believed light traveled through). The idea was to measure the speed of light as the Earth moved in different directions. They found that the speed

of light was the same in all directions. If they wrote this up as a science prШУОМt, tСОв аШuХН ОЧН аТtС “Шur СвpШtСОsТs аКs аrШЧР”. But their exper-

iment lead to the development of special relativity.

A. First say, what you think is faith and a pseudo-scientific theory. Then discuss the statements in italics in two groups: one arguing in favor, the other – against them. Try to reassure your opponents. You may find ideas from text C useful to support your position.

Sometimes there is not so much difference between the scientific method and faith. The scientific hypotheses do not always differ from pseudo-scientific hypotheses because we lack knowledge.

The great advantage of the scientific method is that it is unprejudiced: one does not have to believe a given researcher; one can redo the experiment and determine whether his/her results are true or false. Faith, defined as belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence, does not determine whether a scientific theory is adopted or discarded.

A theory is accepted not based on the prestige or convincing powers of the proponent, but on the results obtained through observations and/or experiments which anyone can reproduce: the results obtained using the scientific method are repeatable. In fact, most experiments and observations are repeated many times (certain experiments are not repeated independently but are repeated as parts of other experiments). If the original claims are not verified the origin of such discrepancies is hunted down and exhaustively studied.

When studying the cosmos we cannot perform experiments; all information is obtained from observations and measurements. Theories are then devised by extracting some regularity in the observations and coding this into physical laws.

There is a very important characteristic of a scientific theory or hy-

pothesis which differentiates it from, for example, an act of faith: a theory Цust ЛО “ПКХsТПТКЛХО”. This means that there must be some experiment or

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possible discovery that could prove the theory untrue. For example, Einstein's theory of Relativity made predictions about the results of experiments. These experiments could have produced results that contradicted Einstein, so the theory was (and still is) falsifiable.

In contrast, the theory tСКt “the moon is populated by little green men who can read our minds and will hide whenever anyone on Earth looks for them, and will flee into deep space whenever a spacecraft comes near” is not falsifiable: these green men are designed so that no one can ever see them. On the other hand, the theory that “there are no little green men on the moon” is scientific: you can disprove it by catching one. Similar arguments apply to abominable snow-persons, UFOs and the Loch Ness Monster(s?).

A frequent criticism made of the scientific method is that it cannot accommodate anything that has not been proved. The argument then points out that many things thought to be impossible in the past are now everyday realities. This criticism is based on a misinterpretation of the scientific method. When a hypothesis passes the test it is adopted as a theory; it correctly explains a range of phenomena; it ca n, at any time, be falsified by new experimental evidence. When exploring a new set or phenomena scientists do use existing theories but, since this is a new area of investigation, it is always kept in mind that the old theories might fail to explain the new experiments and observations. In this case new hypotheses are devised and

tested until a new theory emerges.

There are many types ШП “psОuНШ-sМТОЧtТПТМ” theories which wrap themselves in a mantle of apparent experimental evidence. But they, when examined closely, are nothing but statements of faith. The argument cited by some creationists that science is just another kind of faith is a philosophic stance which ignores the trans-cultural nature of science. Science's theory of gravity explains why both creationists and scientists don't float off the earth. All you have to do is jump to verify this theory – no leap of faith required.

B.Make a conclusion by answering the questions:

1.What is the main difference between the scientific method and faith?

2.What is specific about the scientific hypothesis?

3.What is a frequent misinterpretation of the scientific method? Do you think it reasonable? Can you disprove it?

Here are some knowledge claim statements. In pairs, discuss if we can consider them scientific hoaxes. Share your conclusions in the group, prove your opinion.

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There are photos taken over the years that capture something of a supernatural nature – unexplained lights, figures, or orbs. These photos have been analyzed by labs and photography experts in an attempt to explain them, replicate them, or disprove them. But no trickery has been un-

covered. These photos continually appear to be genuine photographic evidence of, for a lack of a better word … РСШsts.

We have been told by scientists that we have had an increase of 80

PPM of CO2 in the atmosphere delivered with a breathless sense of doom. We arО КХХ РШТЧР tШ НТО ТП аО НШЧ’t ПТб Тt.

Here are some recommendations on using the scientific method. Some of the stages are omitted. Can you fill in the blanks and suggest your own ideas for your groupmates to be a success in implementing this method?

Explain the ideas from the quotes below with regard to the scientific method.

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A Use a more appropriate word in the context:

1.As a question of …, the laws of living bodies are to be studied, in the first place, without any undue haste to subordinate them to the laws of physics. (method/methodology)

2."I do not know of a better … for choosing a presidential nominee" (Harry S. Truman). (method/methodology)

3.I mean those species which are distinguished each from each by one and the same … of division. (method/methodology)

4.Scientific researchers propose … as explanation of phenomena. (evidence/ hypotheses)

5.Scientists start with … and then make a guess. (observations/inferences)

6.Once scientists have an idea of the research question they want to study, they state the ... (hypothesis/problem)

7.A … is a statement of what the researcher thinks will happen in the experiment. (hypothesis/problem)

8.When designing the experiment, the researcher carefully controls as ЦКЧв … Кs pШssТЛХО. (data/variables)

B

Check your reading skills. Enumerate the steps of SM implied in the passage.

As more questions are asked, scientists work hard and come up with a bunch of answers. Then it is time to organize. One of the cool things about science is that other scientists can learn things from what has already been established. They don't have to go out and test everything again and again. That's what makes science special: it builds on what has been learned before.

C Look at the pictures (pic. 2, a f) which represent the steps of the scientific method and describe these steps.

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a

b

f

e

c

d

Pic. 2

How do you assess your results?

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