The Scientific Method

The Scientific Method

All scientists (whether they are physicists, chemists, biologists, sociologists, or psychologists) are engaged in the basic processes of collecting and organizing data and drawing conclusions about those data. The methods used by scientists to do so have developed over many years and provide a basis for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data within a common framework in which information can be shared. We can label the set of assumptions, rules, and procedures that scientists use to conduct research the scientific method. Indeed, the focus of this book is the use of the scientifi c method to study behavior.  

         In addition to requiring that science be empirical—based on observation or measurement of relevant information—the scientifi c method demands that the procedures used be objective, or free from the personal bias or emotions of the scientist. The scientifi c method prescribes how scientists collect and analyze data, how they draw conclusions from data, and how they share data with others. These rules increase objectivity by placing data under scrutiny by other scientists and even by the public at large. Because data are reported objectively, other scientists know exactly how the scientist collected and analyzed the data. This means that they do not have to rely only on the scientist’s own interpretation of the data; they may also draw their own, potentially different, conclusions. Of course, we frequently trust scientists to draw their own conclusions about their data (after all, they are the experts), and we rely on their interpretations. However, when conclusions are made on the basis of empirical data, a knowledgeable person can check up on these interpretations should she or he desire to do so. This book will demonstrate how. 

          The scientific method also demands that science be based on what has come before it. As we will discuss in Chapter 13, most new research is designed to replicate—that is, to repeat, add to, or modify—previous research fi ndings. The scientifi c method results in an accumulation of scientifi c knowledge, through the reporting of research and the addition to and modifi cations of these reported fi ndings through further research by other scientists.