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 Einstein’s 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.
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