By appealing to specific techniques and methods, science allows the production of knowledge.
Science is knowledge obtained through a set of specific techniques and methods . The word comes from the Latin scientia and, precisely, means knowledge. Since the origins of humanity, our species has eagerly pursued knowledge, trying to catalog and define it through clear and easily distinguishable concepts. In Ancient Greece , scholars decided to establish a concept that would allow them to encompass the various types of knowledge: science.
It is also necessary to clarify that knowledge is a set of information acquired through experience or introspection and that can be organized on a structure of objective facts accessible to different observers.
Types of science
Science can be divided into basic science and applied science (when scientific knowledge is applied to human needs). There are also other classifications of sciences, such as those proposed by the German epistemologist Rudolf Carnap , who divided them into formal sciences (they do not have concrete content, such as logic and mathematics ), natural sciences (whose object of study is nature. Example: biology , chemistry , physics , geology , astronomy , meteorology , oceanography ) and social sciences (they deal with aspects of culture and society, such as history , economics and psychology ).
Although each science has its own characteristic research modality, scientific methods must meet several requirements, such as reproducibility (the ability to repeat an experiment anywhere and by anyone) and falsifiability (a theory must be able to be compared to evidence that contradicts it).
The steps of the scientific process are observation (a sample is taken), detailed description , induction (when the general principle implicit in the observed results is extracted), the hypothesis (which explains the results and their cause-effect relationship), controlled experimentation (to test the hypothesis), demonstration or refutation of the hypothesis and, finally, universal comparison (to contrast the hypothesis with reality).
The scientific method
The scientific method is the series of procedures that allow the production of new objective (i.e. scientific) knowledge , which takes a specific form.
The expert first makes a prediction, which is tested using the scientific method and subjected to quantification. Furthermore, these scientific predictions can be placed within a structure thanks to the detection of universal rules , which allow us to describe how a system works. These same universal laws are what make it possible to know in advance how the system in question will act under certain circumstances.
Science has enabled the sequencing of DNA.
The case of social sciences
In the social sciences , where the pragmatic value lies in understanding our species, some demands of the scientific method cannot be applied. It should be noted that one of the fundamental objectives of the existence of the social sciences is to achieve a greater understanding of the human being, as an individual and as a social being.
Therefore, in order to carry out an in-depth study of human behavior, it was necessary to create different scientific spaces where each topic could be worked on independently. This is how psychology , anthropology , economics , political science , and sociology emerged, among other specialties, which study behavior within a cultural context. It is about carrying out an impartial observation and gathering information that helps to understand the matter and draw conclusions as objective as possible through data analysis .
Deductive method and qualitative method
An important difference that needs to be mentioned is the one that exists between the exact sciences and the humanities: in the former, every time an event needs to be repeated in order to verify it, it can be done through the hypothetico-deductive method . However, in the humanities it is impossible to repeat phenomena, because the elements that interfere are social and temporary and can never happen in an identical way.
This led the social sciences to develop an alternative method, which is the qualitative method , in which data is collected from one environment and compared with other data taken in another circumstance or in another environment, in order to reach an accurate conclusion about social and cultural statistics of a people or group of individuals.
Integrated circuits are a scientific advancement in the technological field.
Malinowski and participant observation
If we focus on anthropology , one of the scientists who managed to establish a study method was Bronislaw Malinowski , who devised the method of participant observation , through which he managed to understand the way in which primitive peoples of the islands found in northern Australia lived. This method applied to a community of native settlers could be summarized in the following steps:
- Choose an indigenous community.
- Gather as much information as possible about it.
- Do some in-depth research on it.
- Make hypotheses about the life of these settlers.
- Learn to communicate in their language.
- Organize the work in a theoretical-practical structure to carry out the research.
- Analyze everyday aspects and social acts (relationships, economic activities, etc.) with equal care.
- Establish differences between what we have observed and the interpretation of it.
According to Melville Herskovits , to carry out an anthropological analysis it is necessary to observe as much as we can, participate in whatever the settlers allow us to do and discuss our hypotheses and experiences with as many natives as we can. In this way we would be putting into practice Malinowski 's observation method.
In addition, there are other methods that can help to understand the social facts and behavior of a people, such as the structural method and specific methodologies according to each branch of science.
Paradigms of science
It is interesting to mention that the scientific paradigm is the set of techniques, practices and knowledge that make it possible to define a science at a specific time. It can be said that the paradigm establishes which methods are considered legitimate for addressing the problems that are intended to be studied from a discipline .
The theories accepted by the scientific community , the way in which experiments should be carried out and the proper way of interpreting the results of research are part of the paradigm. It is important to bear in mind that scientific paradigms are associated with a specific era; therefore, they change over time due to discoveries, technological advances, new trends or currents, etc.
It should not be forgotten that science is the methodology that allows us to approach knowledge through the completion of a certain number of steps. The set of these steps is what is called the scientific method and, depending on the type of knowledge that we want to achieve, it will be necessary to use one method or another, as appropriate. In this framework, the paradigm is the context or basis of the scientific practices of a given period.
It is interesting to note, on the other hand, that there is a branch of philosophy dedicated to the study of scientific practices and knowledge: the philosophy of science . Among other issues, it reflects on the nature of paradigms, theories, hypotheses and other ideas; it examines how these concepts relate to reality; and it evaluates the various types of reasoning that are put into practice to obtain conclusions. Likewise, scientific ethics focuses on moral issues linked to the search, generation and application of scientific knowledge.
The dissemination of knowledge
The dissemination of knowledge is essential for the development of science and the evolution of humanity. Scientific progress does not occur through isolated discoveries, but rather each scientist builds on the contributions and experiences of other researchers . Knowledge becomes socially useful when it is applied and when people in general can make use of it.
Scientific publication is the most widely used medium for communicating discoveries. Through this type of text, data are presented and hypotheses are formulated so that the entire scientific community is in a position to analyse and evaluate them. Peer review is usually used to guarantee the validity of what is published: this procedure consists of a critical and independent assessment carried out by peers of the author who are not usually part of the editorial committee of the publication.
Scientific dissemination is also carried out through various events. A scientific conference , a congress or a lecture are tools that allow for presenting new developments and transmitting knowledge.
Of course, when it comes to dissemination, the language must be adapted to the public. If a medical specialist who has developed studies on epidemiology intends to alert the population about a certain public health problem, he will have to create a message that people without scientific knowledge can understand.