1/27/2024

LECTURE 1: Appreciating
Scientific Inquiry

RESEARCH DEFINITION
Research is a process of systematic
inquiry that entails collection of data;
documentation of critical information;
and analysis and interpretation of that
data/information, in accordance with
suitable methodologies set by specific
professional fields and academic
disciplines.
Hampshire College

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Artistic Research
Artistic research is research conducted with artistic practice
as its base and artistic practice as its object. It is research
conducted by artists, who research within and through the
arts to improve the knowledge needed in the artistic
process and production.

“Research is to see what everybody

else has seen, and to think what
nobody else has thought.”

– Albert Szent-Györgyi
Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology and
Medicine (1937)

Fumaric Acid Catalysis – crystalize Vitamin C

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RESEARCH

RESEARCH
“do something “to look/find
again” something”

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In our context:

BIOLOGICAL
PROBLEM

Research Biological Solutions

The essence of the

solution is lost

“There is always something unsaid in

what is being said”

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Systematic Process:
SCIENTIFIC METHOD Methodological
approach to the
process of
inquiry – in
which
empirically
grounded
theory of nature
is constructed
and verified.
Betz (2011)

Evolution of the
Modern Scientific Method
Confusion of practices Empirically grounded
and ungrounded theory theory of nature

Example:
Alchemy (medieval Europe):
An important precursor of
science but not considered a
science
Fundamental components of
the universe: earth, wind, fire,
and water
Verifiable
Chemistry and Physics (modern
Europe):
Fundamental components of
the universe: energy and mass,
atoms and molecules, fields and
particles

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Empirically Grounded Theory

Component Ideas

Nicolaus Copernicus (“theoretician”,

natural philosopher)

1. A scientific model that could be verified

by observation

Tycho Brahe (“experimental

scientist”, astronomer)

2. Precise instrumental observations to verify

the model.

Johannes Kepler (“analyst”,

mathematician)

3. Theoretical analysis of experimental data.

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Galileo Galilei (pioneered quantitative

experiments whose results could be
generalized in mathematical
expression)
4. Scientific laws generalized from
experiment

Rene Descartes (analytical geometry)

5. Mathematics to quantitatively express

theoretical ideas (with Newton)

Isaac Newton (invented

differential calculus, synthesis
of mechanical theory)

6. Theoretical derivation of an experimentally

verifiable model

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Critical Components of Scientific

Methods
1. Observation and experimentation
2. Instrumentation and instrumental
techniques
3. Theoretical analysis and model building
4. Theory construction and validation
5. Paradigm development and integration.

For details on origins of the scientific

method read:

Betz, Frederick. (2011). Origin of Scientific

Method. 10.1007/978-1-4419-7488-4_2.

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ARISTOTLE AND THE SCIENTIFIC

METHOD
Aristotle, regarded as the
father of science, was the first
to realize the importance of
empirical measurement,
believing that knowledge
could only be gained by
building upon what is already
known.

Measurement and observation, the

foundations upon which science is built,
were Aristotle's contribution. He
proposed the idea of induction as a tool
for gaining knowledge, and and
understood that abstract thought
and reasoning must be supported by real
world findings.
empirical

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Scientific Method Stages

Science is empirical in
Observation nature.

“Empiricism” - knowledge
is derived from sense-
experience

Issues that need to be

Problem addressed (“reactive”)

Opportunities that need to

be grasped (“proactive”)

Hypothesis
“Scientific guess”

Based on “known and

accepted” sciences

Hypothesis
Testing/ Actual Observation
Validation • Survey
• Experiment

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When can we conclude

Conclusion that the hypothesis is
VALID?
Have we achieved “THE
RIGHT ANSWER” is the
hypothesis is valid?

Hypothesis is Hypothesis is
“VALID” “ NOT VALID”

New
Hypothesis

“We ACCEPT the HYPOTHESIS as VALID

IF WE ARE NOT ABLE TO INVALIDATE IT”

Implication:

Science can only achieve “near

truths” but never the ABSOLUTE
TRUTHS

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When can we conclude

Conclusion that the hypothesis is
VALID?
Have we achieved “THE
RIGHT ANSWER” is the
hypothesis is valid?

Hypothesis is Hypothesis is
“VALID” “ NOT VALID”

New
Hypothesis

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If science cannot achieve

THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH,
is there an ABSOLUTE
TRUTH?

THERE IS AN ABSOLUTE TRUTH

JOHN 14: 6 Jesus

answered, “I am the
way and the truth and
the life. No one comes
to the Father except
through me.

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LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE

• It cannot be used to prove the

existence of God

Ain’t No Test Tube Big Enough

• Science cannot be used to make

aesthetic/moral judgements
Moral Judgement
(determining what is right
or wrong)
Making judgement is “subjective” –
dependent on the appreciation of
information by the “judge”.
However, science can be used to provide
validated information for an individual to
pass moral judgement.

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Aesthetics Judgement (determining

what is beautiful or ugly)

Making aesthetics judgement is “subjective” – beauty is in

the eye of the beholder.

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• Limited by instrumentation or
the ability to make
observations/measurements

SARS-CoV-2 viewed
using a scanning
electron microscope.

• Limited by practicality

Time

Safety
Cost

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• Limited by ethics

SHOULD SCIENCE BE LIMITED ON

WHAT IT CAN PURSUE?

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Transgenesis Chimaeras

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SHOULD SCIENCE BE LIMITED ON

WHAT IT CAN PURSUE?

(from the scientist’s perspective)

Science grows vertically, new

sciences will build upon previous
sciences. If we limit science on
what it can pursue … new
sciences may not have a good
foundation to build upon.

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However, …

• Who can pursue science

• How one can pursue

science

• Who can use the products

of science

should be limited …

End of Lecture 1

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