Science is one of the methods of accessing knowledge. The dictionary meaning of Science is “regular knowledge that chooses a part of the universe or events as a subject, and tries to draw conclusions by making use of empirical methods and reality”.
The scientific method provides empirical knowledge. When searching for answers to questions, experience-based data is collected that can be perceived by the senses, not intuition or common sense. Then, these data are analyzed and the results are reached. For example, in order to understand whether people are different from themselves or are happier with spouses with a similar personality structure, certain personality traits of couples are measured and their relationship with personal happiness values is examined. Every concept that can be measured directly or indirectly in this way actually provides us with empirical data.
The scientific method is systematic. In the application of the scientific method, a predetermined, rational and systematic sequence of operations is followed. This series is commonly referred to as “research”.
The scientific method is objective. The researcher reaches the results by analyzing the data he has measured objectively, not based on his own personal preferences or judgments.
To ensure objectivity, researchers describe very clearly in their papers how they define and measure concepts. Thus, another researcher who wants to repeat this study can test the accuracy of the same results using the same definition and measurement methods.
The scientific method can be tested and falsified. Questions that cannot be collected and tested empirically by existing methods are not scientific questions. For example, “Is there life after death?” is not a question that can be tested by collecting data with today’s technical possibilities. However, it is an empirical and testable question, for example, whether people’s belief in the existence of life after death changes according to age groups. In addition, the researcher accepts that the answers given at the end of a study can always be falsified. This falsification may occur as a result of studies using different groups and different methods, or may be due to changes in the measured event. Therefore, the results obtained by the scientific method are always temporary.
Finally, the information obtained by the scientific method can be generalized. The scientific method seeks to understand individuals, not a single individual. For example, the results of a study investigating memory systems should not be limited to the memories of individuals participating in that study. The aim is to understand the memory systems of people without any memory problems in general. However, it cannot be thought that the findings obtained by the individual method will be suitable for each individual in the same way. There will be individual differences for each measured concept and phenomenon (this may be a physical feature such as height of individuals or an abstract situation such as anxiety). Science tries to understand the concepts and the relationships between them only based on these personal differences.
Theories explaining psychological phenomena are formed by bringing together the results of various researches made with scientific methods.
As a result, the scientific method is a method for producing information that will form a reliable and generalizable database about a subject or event. Social scientists use this method to understand and explain human behavior and social phenomena, and to solve social problems.
