Science, scientific method and critique

Science is “a systematized body of knowledge”. An essential feature of scientific

knowledge is that it is based upon ‘sensory observation or empirical data’. Next,
the information acquired through sensory observation has been made meaningful
and manageable. Thus science tries to arrive at ‘law like explanatory
generalizations’. For the purpose of acquiring empirical data and for processing
them into law like statements science relies on a ‘method’.
The basic elements of SCIENTIFIC METHOD are:
• Observation of an event that stimulates thinking.
• Defining or classifying the terms or events being considered.
• Formulating the research issue or hypothesis.
• Generating a theory or proposition - a general statement that serves as
a potential answer to the research question.
• Creating a research design in order to test whether the theory or proposition is
valid.
• Collecting data-working through the research design to make observations.
• Analyzing the data
• Making conclusions and evaluating the theory.

The earliest sciences to grow were physical and natural sciences. Due to their
success in exploring the physical and natural world and in being able to arrive
at near universal laws, they came to be viewed as models for other sciences to
emulate.
Physical and natural sciences try to rely on measurement and quantification of
data. Quantification brings in exactitude and makes precise comparisons
possible. Sociology, being a late comer was also influenced and developed
under the shadow of these positive sciences. Early sociologists conceived
Sociology as a positive science. For example, influenced by biology, Herbert
Spencer viewed society as an organism like entity; a unified whole made up of
interconnected parts. He advocated methods of positive sciences to be used for
the study of social phenomena.

Even Durkheim regarded Sociology to be a positive science. According to him

social facts constitute the subject matter of Sociology.

“Scientific Method is a systematic and objective attempt to study a problem for

the purpose of deriving general principles”. Robert Burns describes it as “a
systematic investigation to find solutions to a problem”. The investigation is
guided by previously collected information. Man’s knowledge grows by
studying what is already known and revising past knowledge in the light of new
findings.
· Royce A. Singleton and Bruce C. Straits have said that “scientific social
research consists of the process of formulating and seeking answers to
questions about the social world”. For example, why do husbands batter
their wives? Why do people take drugs? What are the consequences of