The empirical level of scientific knowledge is built mainly on the living contemplation of the objects under study, although rational knowledge is present as a mandatory component, direct contact with the object of knowledge is necessary to achieve empirical knowledge. At the empirical level, the researcher applies general logical and general scientific methods. The general scientific methods of the empirical level include: observation, description, experiment, measurement, etc. Let's get acquainted with individual methods.
Observation is a sensual reflection of objects and phenomena of the external world. This is the initial method of empirical knowledge, which allows to obtain some primary information about the objects of the surrounding reality.
Scientific observation differs from ordinary and is characterized by a number of features:
purposefulness (fixation of views on the task);
planning (action according to plan);
activity (attraction of accumulated knowledge, technical means).
Observation methods can be:
immediate,
mediated,
indirect.
Direct Observations- this is a sensual reflection of certain properties, aspects of the object under study with the help of only the sense organs. For example, visual observation of the position of planets and stars in the sky. This is what Tycho Brahe did for 20 years with precision unsurpassed to the naked eye. He created an empirical database for Kepler's later discovery of the laws of planetary motion.
At present, direct observations are used in space research from space stations. The selective ability of human vision and logical analysis are those unique properties of the visual observation method that no set of equipment possesses. Another field of application of the method of direct observation is meteorology.
Indirect Observations- study of objects using certain technical means. The emergence and development of such means largely determined the enormous expansion of the possibilities of the method that has taken place over the past four centuries. If at the beginning of the 17th century, astronomers observed celestial bodies with the naked eye, then with the invention of the optical telescope in 1608, the vast face of the Universe was revealed to researchers. Then mirror telescopes appeared, and at present there are X-ray telescopes at the orbital stations, which allow observing such objects of the Universe as pulsars, quasars. Another example of mediated observation is the optical microscope invented in the 17th century, and the electronic microscope in the 20th century.
indirect observations- this is the observation not of the studied objects themselves, but of the results of their influences on other objects. This observation is especially used in atomic physics. Here, micro-objects cannot be observed either with the help of sense organs or instruments. What scientists observe in the process of empirical research in nuclear physics is not the micro-objects themselves, but the results of their actions on some technical means of research. For example, when studying the properties of charged particles using a cloud chamber, these particles are perceived by the researcher indirectly by their visible manifestations - tracks consisting of many liquid droplets.
Any observation, although based on the data of the senses, requires the participation of theoretical thinking, with the help of which it is formalized in the form of certain scientific terms, graphs, tables, drawings. In addition, it is based on certain theoretical provisions. This is especially evident in indirect observations, since only a theory can establish a connection between an unobserved and an observed phenomenon. A. Einstein in this regard said: "Whether this phenomenon can be observed or not depends on your theory. It is the theory that must establish what can be observed and what cannot."
Observations can often play an important heuristic role in scientific knowledge. In the process of observation, completely new phenomena or data can be discovered that allow one or another hypothesis to be substantiated. Scientific observations are necessarily accompanied by a description.
Description - this is the fixation by means of natural and artificial language of information about objects obtained as a result of observation. Description can be seen as the final stage of observation. With the help of a description, sensory information is translated into the language of concepts, signs, diagrams, drawings, graphs, figures, thereby taking on a form convenient for further rational processing (systematization, classification, generalization).
Measurement - this is a method that consists in determining the quantitative values of certain properties, aspects of the object under study, the phenomenon with the help of special technical devices.
The introduction of measurement into natural science turned the latter into a rigorous science. It complements the qualitative methods of cognition of natural phenomena with quantitative ones. The measurement operation is based on the comparison of objects according to some similar properties or sides, as well as the introduction of certain units of measurement.
Unit of measurement - it is a standard against which the measured side of an object or phenomenon is compared. The standard is assigned the numerical value "1". There are many units of measurement corresponding to the multitude of objects, phenomena, their properties, sides, connections that have to be measured in the process of scientific knowledge. In this case, the units of measurement are divided into basic, chosen as the basic ones when constructing the system of units, and derivatives, derived from other units with the help of some mathematical relationships. The methodology for constructing a system of units as a set of basic and derivatives was first proposed in 1832 by K. Gauss. He built a system of units, in which 3 arbitrary, independent of each other basic units were taken as the basis: length (millimeter), mass (milligram) and time (second). All others were determined using these three.
Later, with the development of science and technology, other systems of units of physical quantities appeared, built according to the Gauss principle. They were based on the metric system of measures, but differed from each other in basic units.
In addition to the above approach in physics, the so-called natural system of units. Its basic units were determined from the laws of nature. For example, the "natural" system of physical units proposed by Max Planck. It was based on "world constants": the speed of light in a vacuum, the gravitational constant, the Boltzmann constant and the Planck constant. By equating them to "1", Planck obtained derived units of length, mass, time and temperature.
The question of establishing uniformity in the measurement of quantities was fundamentally important. The lack of such uniformity gave rise to significant difficulties for scientific knowledge. So, until 1880, inclusive, there was no unity in the measurement of electrical quantities. For resistance, for example, there were 15 unit names, 5 electric current units, and so on. All this made it difficult to calculate, compare the data obtained, etc. Only in 1881 at the first international congress on electricity was the first unified system adopted: ampere, volt, ohm.
At present, the international system of units (SI), adopted in 1960 by the XI General Conference on Weights and Measures, is predominantly in force in natural science. The international system of units is built on the basis of seven basic (meter, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, candela, mole) and two additional (radian, steradian) units. With the help of a special table of multipliers and prefixes, multiples and submultiples can be formed (for example, 10-3 \u003d milli - one thousandth of the original).
The international system of units of physical quantities is the most perfect and universal of all that have existed so far. It covers the physical quantities of mechanics, thermodynamics, electrodynamics and optics, which are interconnected by physical laws.
The need for a unified international system of units of measurement in the conditions of the modern scientific and technological revolution is very great. Therefore, international organizations such as UNESCO and the International Organization of Legal Metrology called on the member states of these organizations to adopt the SI system and calibrate all measuring instruments in it.
There are several types of measurements: static and dynamic, direct and indirect.
The first are determined by the nature of the dependence of the quantity being determined on time. So, with static measurements, the quantity that we measure remains constant in time. In dynamic measurements, a quantity is measured that changes over time. In the first case, these are the dimensions of the body, constant pressure, etc., in the second case, this is the measurement of vibrations, pulsating pressure.
According to the method of obtaining results, direct and indirect measurements are distinguished.
In direct measurements the desired value of the measured value is obtained by directly comparing it with the standard or issued by the measuring device.
When measured indirectly the desired value is determined on the basis of a known mathematical relationship between this value and others obtained by direct measurements. Indirect measurements are widely used in cases where the desired value is impossible or too difficult to measure directly, or when direct measurement gives a less accurate result.
The technical capabilities of measuring instruments largely reflect the level of development of science. Modern instruments are much more advanced than those used by scientists in the 19th century and earlier. But this did not prevent scientists of past centuries from making outstanding discoveries. For example, evaluating the measurement of the speed of light, carried out by the American physicist A. Michelson, S.I. Vavilov wrote: "On the basis of his experimental discoveries and measurements, the theory of relativity grew, wave optics and spectroscopy developed and refined, and theoretical astrophysics became stronger."
With the progress of science, the measuring technique also advances. Even a whole branch of production has been created - instrument making. Well-developed measuring instrumentation, a variety of methods and high characteristics of measuring instruments contribute to progress in scientific research. In turn, the solution of scientific problems often opens up new ways to improve the measurements themselves.
Despite the role of observation, description and measurement in scientific research, they have a serious limitation - they do not involve the active intervention of the subject of knowledge in the natural course of the process. The further process of development of science involves overcoming the descriptive phase and supplementing the considered methods with a more active method - experiment.
Experiment (from Latin - test, experience) - this is a method when, by changing the conditions, direction or nature of this process, artificial possibilities are created for studying an object in a relatively "pure" form. It involves an active, purposeful and strictly controlled influence of the researcher on the object under study in order to clarify certain aspects, properties, connections. At the same time, the experimenter can transform the object under study, create artificial conditions for its study, and interfere with the natural course of processes.
The experiment incorporates previous methods of empirical research, i.e. observation and description, as well as another empirical procedure - measurement. But it does not come down to them, but has its own characteristics that distinguish it from other methods.
Firstly, experiment allows you to study the object in a "purified" form, i.e. eliminating all sorts of side factors, layers that impede the research process. For example, an experiment requires special rooms protected from electromagnetic influences.
Secondly, during the experiment, special conditions can be created, for example, temperature, pressure, electrical voltage. In such artificial conditions, it is possible to discover amazing, sometimes unexpected properties of objects and thereby comprehend their essence. Of particular note are experiments in space, where conditions exist and are achieved that are impossible in terrestrial laboratories.
Thirdly, repeated reproducibility of the experiment allows obtaining reliable results.
Fourth, studying the process, the experimenter can include in it everything that he considers necessary to obtain true knowledge about the object, for example, change the chemical agents of influence.
The experiment involves the following steps:
setting a goal;
statement of a question;
availability of initial theoretical provisions;
the presence of an expected result;
planning the ways of conducting the experiment;
creation of an experimental setup that provides the necessary conditions for influencing the object under study;
controlled modification of the experimental conditions;
accurate fixation of the consequences of exposure;
description of a new phenomenon and its properties;
10) availability of people with proper qualifications.
Scientific experiments are of the following main types:
- - measuring,
- - search,
- - checking,
- - control,
- - research
and others, depending on the nature of the tasks.
Depending on the area in which experiments are carried out, they are divided into:
- - fundamental experiments in the field of natural sciences;
- - applied experiments in the field of natural sciences;
- - industrial experiment;
- - social experiment;
- - experiments in the humanities.
Consider some of the types of scientific experiment.
Research The experiment makes it possible to discover new, previously unknown properties in objects. The result of such an experiment may be conclusions that do not follow from the existing knowledge about the object of study. An example is the experiments carried out in the laboratory of E. Rutherford, during which a strange behavior of alpha particles was discovered when they bombarded gold foil. Most of the particles passed through the foil, a small amount was deflected and scattered, and some particles were not just deflected, but repelled back, like a ball from a net. Such an experimental picture, according to calculations, was obtained if the mass of an atom is concentrated in the nucleus, which occupies an insignificant part of its volume. Alpha particles bounced back as they collided with the nucleus. So the research experiment conducted by Rutherford and his collaborators led to the discovery of the atomic nucleus, and thus to the birth of nuclear physics.
Checking. This experiment serves to test, confirm certain theoretical constructions. Thus, the existence of a number of elementary particles (positron, neutrino) was first predicted theoretically, and later they were discovered experimentally.
Qualitative experiments are search engines. They do not imply obtaining quantitative ratios, but allow revealing the effect of certain factors on the phenomenon under study. For example, an experiment to study the behavior of a living cell under the influence of an electromagnetic field. Quantitative experiments most often followed by a qualitative experiment. They are aimed at establishing exact quantitative relationships in the phenomenon under study. An example is the history of the discovery of the connection between electrical and magnetic phenomena. This connection was discovered by the Danish physicist Oersted in the process of conducting a purely qualitative experiment. He placed the compass next to the conductor through which the electric current passed, and found that the compass needle deviated from its original position. Following the publication of his discovery by Oersted, quantitative experiments of a number of scientists followed, the developments of which were fixed in the name of the unit of current strength.
Applied experiments are close in their essence to scientific fundamental experiments. Applied Experiments make it their task to search for the possibilities of practical application of this or that discovered phenomenon. G. Hertz set the task of experimental verification of Maxwell's theoretical positions; he was not interested in practical application. Therefore, Hertz's experiments, during which the electromagnetic waves predicted by Maxwell's theory were obtained, remained natural science, of a fundamental nature.
Popov, however, initially set himself the task of practical content, and his experiments laid the foundation for applied science - radio engineering. Moreover, Hertz did not believe at all in the possibility of practical application of electromagnetic waves, he did not see any connection between his experiments and the needs of practice. Having learned about the attempts of the practical use of electromagnetic waves, Hertz even wrote to the Dresden Chamber of Commerce about the need to ban these experiments as useless.
As for industrial and social experiments, as well as in the field of the humanities, they appeared only in the 20th century. In the humanities, the experimental method is developing especially intensively in such areas as psychology, pedagogy, and sociology. In the 1920s, social experiments developed. They contribute to the introduction of new forms of social organization and optimization of social management.
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In the discipline "Methods of scientific research"
on the topic: “Methods of scientific knowledge. Observation, comparison, measurement, experiment"
Introduction
1. Methods of scientific knowledge
2.1 Surveillance
2.2 Comparison
2.3 Measurement
2.4 Experiment
Conclusion
Introduction
Centuries of experience has allowed people to come to the conclusion that nature can be studied by scientific methods.
The concept of method (from the Greek "methodos" - the path to something) means a set of techniques and operations for the practical and theoretical development of reality.
The doctrine of the method began to develop in the science of modern times. So, a prominent philosopher, scientist of the 17th century. F. Bacon compared the method of cognition with a lantern that illuminates the way for a traveler walking in the dark.
There is a whole field of knowledge that is specifically concerned with the study of methods and which is usually called methodology ("the doctrine of methods"). The most important task of methodology is to study the origin, essence, effectiveness and other characteristics of cognitive methods.
1. Methods of scientific knowledge
Each science uses different methods, which depend on the nature of the problems solved in it. However, the originality of scientific methods lies in the fact that they are relatively independent of the type of problems, but they are dependent on the level and depth of scientific research, which is manifested primarily in their role in research processes.
In other words, in each research process, the combination of methods and their structure changes.
Methods of scientific knowledge are usually divided according to the breadth of applicability in the process of scientific research.
There are general, general scientific and private scientific methods.
There are two general methods in the history of knowledge: dialectical and metaphysical. Metaphysical method from the middle of the XIX century. began to be increasingly supplanted by the dialectical.
General scientific methods are used in various fields of science (it has an interdisciplinary spectrum of application).
The classification of general scientific methods is closely related to the concept of levels of scientific knowledge.
There are two levels of scientific knowledge: empirical and theoretical. Some general scientific methods are applied only at the empirical level (observation, comparison, experiment, measurement); others - only on the theoretical (idealization, formalization), and some (for example, modeling) - both on the empirical and theoretical.
The empirical level of scientific knowledge is characterized by a direct study of real-life, sensually perceived objects. At this level, the process of accumulating information about the objects under study is carried out (by measurement, experiments), here the primary systematization of the acquired knowledge takes place (in the form of tables, diagrams, graphs).
The theoretical level of scientific research is carried out at the rational (logical) level of knowledge. At this level, the most profound, essential aspects, connections, patterns inherent in the objects and phenomena under study are revealed. The result of theoretical knowledge are hypotheses, theories, laws.
However, empirical and theoretical levels of knowledge are interconnected. The empirical level acts as the basis, the foundation of the theoretical one.
The third group of methods of scientific knowledge includes methods used only in the framework of the research of a particular science or a particular phenomenon.
Such methods are called private scientific. Each particular science (biology, chemistry, geology) has its own specific research methods.
However, private scientific methods contain features of both general scientific methods and universal ones. For example, in private scientific methods there may be observations, measurements. Or, for example, the universal dialectical principle of development is manifested in biology in the form of the natural-historical law of evolution of animal and plant species discovered by Charles Darwin.
2. Methods of empirical research
The methods of empirical research are observation, comparison, measurement, experiment.
At this level, the researcher accumulates facts, information about the objects under study.
2.1 Surveillance
Observation is the simplest form of scientific knowledge based on the data of the sense organs. Observation implies minimal influence on the activity of the object and maximum reliance on the subject's natural senses. At the very least, intermediaries in the process of observation, for example, various kinds of instruments, should only quantitatively enhance the distinctive ability of the sense organs. It is possible to single out different types of observation, for example, armed (using instruments, for example, a microscope, telescope) and unarmed (devices are not used), field (observation in the natural environment of an object) and laboratory (in an artificial environment).
In observation, the subject of cognition receives extremely valuable information about the object, which is usually impossible to obtain in any other way. Observation data are highly informative, providing unique information about an object that is unique to this object at this point in time and under given conditions. The results of observation form the basis of facts, and facts, as you know, are the air of science.
To carry out the method of observation, it is necessary, firstly, to provide a long-term, lasting, high-quality perception of the object (for example, one must have good vision, hearing, etc., or good devices that enhance the natural human perception abilities).
If possible, it is necessary to conduct this perception in such a way that it does not affect the natural activity of the object too much, otherwise we will observe not so much the object itself as its interaction with the subject of observation (a small influence of observation on the object, which can be neglected, is called the neutrality of observation).
For example, if a zoologist observes the behavior of animals, then it is better for him to hide so that the animals do not see him, and observe them from behind cover.
It is useful to perceive an object in more varied conditions - at different times, in different places, etc., in order to get more complete sensory information about the object. It is necessary to increase attention in order to try to notice the slightest changes in the object that elude the usual superficial perception. It would be nice, not relying on your own memory, to somehow specifically record the results of observation, for example, to start an observation log, where you record the time and conditions of observation, describe the results of the perception of the object obtained at that time (such records are also called observation protocols).
Finally, care must be taken to carry out the observation under such conditions that, in principle, another person could conduct such an observation, obtaining approximately the same results (the possibility of repeating the observation by any person is called the intersubjectivity of observation). In good observation, there is no need to rush to somehow explain the manifestations of the object, to put forward certain hypotheses. To some extent, it is useful to remain impartial, calmly and impartially registering everything that happens (such independence of observation from rational forms of cognition is called theoretical unloading of observation).
Thus, scientific observation is, in principle, the same observation as in everyday life, but in every possible way enhanced by various additional resources: time, increased attention, neutrality, diversity, logging, intersubjectivity, unloaded.
This is a particularly pedantic sensory perception, the quantitative enhancement of which can finally give a qualitative difference compared to ordinary perception and lay the foundation for scientific knowledge.
Observation is a purposeful perception of an object, due to the task of activity. The main condition for scientific observation is objectivity, i.e. the possibility of control by either repeated observation or the use of other research methods (for example, experiment).
2.2 Comparison
This is one of the most common and versatile research methods. The well-known aphorism “everything is known in comparison” is the best proof of this. Comparison is the ratio between two integers a and b, meaning that the difference (a - c) of these numbers is divisible by a given integer m, called the modulus C; written a b (mod, m). In the study, comparison is the establishment of similarities and differences between objects and phenomena of reality. As a result of comparison, the general that is inherent in two or more objects is established, and the identification of the general, which is repeated in phenomena, as you know, is a step on the way to the knowledge of the law. In order for a comparison to be fruitful, it must satisfy two basic requirements.
Only such phenomena should be compared between which a definite objective commonality can exist. You can not compare obviously incomparable things - it will not work. At best, one can only arrive at superficial and therefore fruitless analogies. Comparison should be carried out according to the most important features. Comparison on non-essential grounds can easily lead to confusion.
So, formally comparing the work of enterprises producing the same type of product, one can find a lot in common in their activities. If, in this case, comparison is omitted in such important parameters as the level of production, the cost of production, and the various conditions under which the compared enterprises operate, then it is easy to come to a methodological error leading to one-sided conclusions. If, however, these parameters are taken into account, it becomes clear what is the reason and where the real sources of the methodological error lie. Such a comparison will already give a true idea of the phenomena under consideration, corresponding to the real state of affairs.
Various objects of interest to the researcher can be compared directly or indirectly - by comparing them with some third object. In the first case, qualitative results are usually obtained. However, even with such a comparison, one can obtain the simplest quantitative characteristics that express quantitative differences between objects in numerical form. When objects are compared with some third object that acts as a standard, quantitative characteristics acquire a special value, since they describe objects without regard to each other, provide deeper and more detailed knowledge about them. This comparison is called measurement. It will be discussed in detail below. With comparison, information about an object can be obtained in two different ways. First, it very often acts as a direct result of comparison. For example, the establishment of any relationship between objects, the discovery of differences or similarities between them is information obtained directly by comparison. This information can be called primary. Secondly, very often obtaining primary information does not act as the main goal of comparison, this goal is to obtain secondary or derivative information that is the result of processing primary data. The most common and most important way of such processing is inference by analogy. This conclusion was discovered and investigated (under the name "paradeigma") by Aristotle. Its essence boils down to the following: if, as a result of comparison, several identical features are found out of two objects, but some additional feature is found in one of them, then it is assumed that this feature should also be inherent in the other object. In a nutshell, the analogy can be summarized as follows:
A has features X1, X2, X3…, X n, X n+1.
B has features X1, X2, X3…, X n.
Conclusion: "Probably B has feature X n+1".
The conclusion based on analogy is probabilistic in nature, it can lead not only to truth, but also to error. In order to increase the probability of obtaining true knowledge about an object, the following should be kept in mind:
inference by analogy gives the more true value, the more similar features we find in the compared objects;
the truth of the conclusion by analogy is directly dependent on the significance of similar features of objects, even a large number of similar, but not essential features, can lead to a false conclusion;
the deeper the relationship of the features found in the object, the higher the probability of a false conclusion.
The general similarity of two objects is not a basis for inference by analogy, if the one about which the conclusion is made has a feature that is incompatible with the transferred feature.
In other words, to obtain a true conclusion, one must take into account not only the nature of the similarity, but also the nature and differences of objects.
2.3 Measurement
Measurement has historically evolved from the comparison operation, which is its basis. However, unlike comparison, measurement is a more powerful and versatile cognitive tool.
Measurement - a set of actions performed using measuring instruments in order to find the numerical value of the measured quantity in the accepted units of measurement.
There are direct measurements (for example, measuring the length with a graduated ruler) and indirect measurements based on a known relationship between the desired value and directly measured values.
The measurement assumes the presence of the following main elements:
the object of measurement;
units of measurement, i.e. reference object;
measuring instrument(s);
the method of measurement;
observer (researcher).
With direct measurement, the result is obtained directly from the measurement process itself. With indirect measurement, the desired value is determined mathematically based on the knowledge of other quantities obtained by direct measurement. The value of measurements is evident even from the fact that they provide accurate, quantitatively defined information about the surrounding reality.
As a result of measurements, such facts can be established, such empirical discoveries can be made that lead to a radical break in the ideas that have been established in science. This concerns, first of all, unique, outstanding measurements, which represent very important moments in the development and history of science. The most important indicator of the quality of measurement, its scientific value is accuracy. Practice shows that the main ways to improve the accuracy of measurements should be considered:
· improvement of the quality of measuring instruments operating on the basis of certain established principles;
· creation of instruments operating on the basis of the latest scientific discoveries.
Among the empirical methods of research, measurement occupies approximately the same place as observation and comparison. It is a relatively elementary method, one of the components of the experiment - the most complex and significant method of empirical research.
2.4 Experiment
Experiment - the study of any phenomena by actively influencing them by creating new conditions that correspond to the goals of the study, or by changing the flow of the process in the right direction. This is the most complex and effective method of empirical research. It involves the use of the simplest empirical methods - observations, comparisons and measurements. However, its essence is not in particular complexity, “syntheticity”, but in a purposeful, deliberate transformation of the phenomena under study, in the intervention of the experimenter in accordance with his goals during natural processes.
It should be noted that the establishment of the experimental method in science is a long process that took place in the acute struggle of the advanced scientists of the New Age against ancient speculation and medieval scholasticism. Galileo Galilei is rightfully considered the founder of experimental science, who considered experience to be the basis of knowledge. Some of his research is the foundation of modern mechanics. In 1657 after his death, the Florentine Academy of Experience arose, working according to his plans and aiming to conduct, above all, experimental research.
Compared to observation, experimentation has a number of advantages:
In the course of the experiment, it becomes possible to study this or that phenomenon in a “pure” form. This means that various factors obscuring the main process can be eliminated, and the researcher receives accurate knowledge about the phenomenon of interest to us.
The experiment allows you to explore the properties of objects of reality in extreme conditions:
a. at ultra-low and ultra-high temperatures;
b. at the highest pressures;
v. at huge intensities of electric and magnetic fields, etc.
Working under these conditions can lead to the discovery of the most unexpected and amazing properties in ordinary things and thus allows you to penetrate much deeper into their essence.
Superconductivity can serve as an example of this kind of "strange" phenomena discovered under extreme conditions concerning the field of control.
The most important advantage of the experiment is its repeatability. During the experiment, the necessary observations, comparisons and measurements can be carried out, as a rule, as many times as necessary to obtain reliable data. This feature of the experimental method makes it very valuable in research.
There are situations that require experimental research. For instance:
a situation where it is necessary to discover previously unknown properties of an object. The result of such an experiment are statements that do not follow from the existing knowledge about the object.
a situation where it is necessary to check the correctness of certain statements or theoretical constructions.
There are also methods of empirical and theoretical research. Such as: abstraction, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, modeling and use of devices, historical and logical methods of scientific knowledge.
scientific technological progress research
Conclusion
According to the control work, we can conclude that research as a process of developing new knowledge in the work of a manager is also necessary, like other activities. The study is characterized by objectivity, reproducibility, evidence, accuracy, i.e. what a manager needs in practice. A self-research manager can be expected to:
a. ability to choose and ask questions;
b. the ability to use the means available to science (if he does not find his own, new ones);
v. the ability to understand the results obtained, i.е. to understand what the study gave and whether it gave anything at all.
Empirical research methods are not the only way to analyze an object. Along with them, there are methods of empirical and theoretical research, as well as methods of theoretical research. Methods of empirical research in comparison with others are the most elementary, but at the same time the most universal and widespread. The most complex and significant method of empirical research is experiment. Scientific and technological progress requires an ever wider application of the experiment. As for modern science, its development is simply unthinkable without experiment. At present, experimental research has become so important that it is considered as one of the main forms of practical activity of researchers.
Literature
Barchukov I. S. Methods of scientific research in tourism 2008
Heisenberg V. Physics and Philosophy. Part and whole. - M., 1989. S. 85.
Kravets A. S. Methodology of science. - Voronezh. 1991
Lukashevich V.K. Fundamentals of Research Methodology 2001
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Other methods of scientific knowledge
Private scientific methods - a set of methods, principles of cognition, research techniques and procedures used in a particular branch of science, corresponding to a given basic form of motion of matter. These are the methods of mechanics, physics, chemistry, biology and the humanities (social) sciences.
Disciplinary methods are systems of techniques used in a particular discipline that is part of some branch of science or that has arisen at the intersection of sciences. Each fundamental science is a complex of disciplines that have their own specific subject and their own unique research methods.
Methods of interdisciplinary research are a set of a number of synthetic, integrative methods (resulting from a combination of elements of different levels of methodology), aimed mainly at the intersections of scientific disciplines.
empirical knowledge is a set of statements about real, empirical objects. empirical knowledge based on sensory knowledge. The rational moment and its forms (judgments, concepts, etc.) are present here, but have a subordinate meaning. Therefore, the researched the object is reflected mainly from the side of its external relations and manifestations accessible to contemplation and expressing internal relations. empirical, experimental research is directed without intermediate links to its object. It masters it with the help of such techniques and means as description, comparison, measurement, observation, experiment, analysis, induction (from the particular to the general), and its most important element is the fact (from Latin factum - done, accomplished).
1. Observation - this is a deliberate and directed perception of the object of knowledge in order to obtain information about its form, properties and relationships. The process of observation is not passive contemplation. This is an active, directed form of the epistemological relationship of the subject in relation to the object, enhanced by additional means of observation, fixing information and its translation. The following requirements are imposed on observation: the purpose of observation; choice of methodology; observation plan; control over the correctness and reliability of the results obtained; processing, comprehension and interpretation of the received information.
2. Measurement - this is a technique in cognition, with the help of which a quantitative comparison of quantities of the same quality is carried out. The qualitative characteristics of an object, as a rule, are fixed by instruments, the quantitative specificity of an object is established by means of measurements.
3. Experiment- (from lat. experimentum - test, experience), a method of cognition, with the help of which phenomena of reality are studied under controlled and controlled conditions. Differing from observation in active operation of the object under study, E. is carried out on the basis of a theory that determines the formulation of problems and the interpretation of its results.
4 Comparison is a method of comparing objects in order to identify similarities or differences between them. If objects are compared with an object that acts as a reference, then this is called a comparison by measurement.
Methods of empirical research
Observation
¨ comparison
¨ measurement
¨ experiment
Observation
Observation is a purposeful perception of an object, due to the task of activity. The main condition for scientific observation is objectivity, i.e. the possibility of control by either repeated observation or the use of other research methods (for example, experiment). This is the most elementary method, one of many other empirical methods.
Comparison
This is one of the most common and versatile research methods. The well-known aphorism "everything is known in comparison" is the best proof of this.
Comparison is the ratio between two integers a and b, meaning that the difference (a - b) of these numbers is divisible by a given integer m, called the modulus C; written a = b (mod, t).
In the study, comparison is the establishment of similarities and differences between objects and phenomena of reality. As a result of comparison, the general that is inherent in two or more objects is established, and the identification of the general, which is repeated in phenomena, as you know, is a step on the way to the knowledge of the law.
In order for a comparison to be fruitful, it must satisfy two basic requirements.
1. Only such phenomena should be compared between which a certain objective commonality can exist. You can not compare obviously incomparable things - it does not give anything. At best, only superficial and therefore fruitless analogies are possible here.
2. Comparison should be carried out according to the most important features Comparison based on non-essential features can easily lead to confusion.
So, formally comparing the work of enterprises producing the same type of product, one can find a lot in common in their activities. If, in this case, comparison is omitted in such important parameters as the level of production, the cost of production, the various conditions in which the compared enterprises operate, then it is easy to come to a methodological error leading to one-sided conclusions. If, however, these parameters are taken into account, it becomes clear what is the reason and where the real sources of the methodological error lie. Such a comparison will already give a true idea of the phenomena under consideration, corresponding to the real state of affairs.
Various objects of interest to the researcher can be compared directly or indirectly - by comparing them with some third object. In the first case, qualitative results are usually obtained (more - less; lighter - darker; higher - lower, etc.). However, even with such a comparison, it is possible to obtain the simplest quantitative characteristics that express quantitative differences between objects in numerical form (more than 2 times, more than 3 times, etc.).
When objects are compared with some third object that acts as a standard, quantitative characteristics acquire special value, since they describe objects without regard to each other, provide deeper and more detailed knowledge about them (for example, to know that one car weighs 1 ton , and the other - 5 tons - this means to know about them much more than what is contained in the sentence: "the first car is 5 times lighter than the second. " This comparison is called measurement. It will be discussed in detail below.
With comparison, information about an object can be obtained in two different ways.
First, it very often acts as a direct result of comparison. For example, the establishment of any relationship between objects, the discovery of differences or similarities between them is information obtained directly by comparison. This information can be called primary.
Secondly, very often obtaining primary information does not act as the main goal of comparison, this goal is to obtain secondary or derivative information that is the result of processing primary data. The most common and most important way of such processing is inference by analogy. This conclusion was discovered and investigated (under the name "paradeigma") by Aristotle.
Its essence boils down to the following: if, as a result of comparison, several identical features are found out of two objects, but some additional feature is found in one of them, then it is assumed that this feature should also be inherent in the other object. In a nutshell, the analogy can be summarized as follows:
A has features X1, X2, X3, ..., Xn, Xn+,.
B has features X1, X2, X3, ..., Xn.
Conclusion: "Probably, B has the attribute Xn +1". The conclusion based on analogy is probabilistic in nature, it can lead not only to truth, but also to error. In order to increase the probability of obtaining true knowledge about an object, the following should be kept in mind:
¨ inference by analogy gives the more true value, the more similar features we find in the compared objects;
¨ the truth of the conclusion by analogy is directly dependent on the significance of similar features of objects, even a large number of similar, but not essential features, can lead to a false conclusion;
¨ the deeper the relationship of the features found in the object, the higher the probability of a false conclusion;
¨ the general similarity of two objects is not a basis for inference by analogy, if one of them, regarding which the conclusion is made, has a feature that is incompatible with the transferred feature. In other words, to obtain a true conclusion, it is necessary to take into account not only the nature of the similarity, but also the nature of the difference between objects.
Measurement
Measurement has historically evolved from the comparison operation, which is its basis. However, unlike comparison, measurement is a more powerful and universal cognitive tool.
Measurement - a set of actions performed using measuring instruments in order to find the numerical value of the measured quantity in the accepted units of measurement. There are direct measurements (for example, measuring the length with a graduated ruler) and indirect measurements based on a known relationship between the desired value and directly measured values.
The measurement assumes the presence of the following main elements:
measurement object;
units of measurement, i.e. reference object;
measuring instrument(s);
measurement method;
observer (researcher).
With direct measurement, the result is obtained directly from the measurement process itself (for example, in sports competitions, measuring the length of a jump with a tape measure, measuring the length of carpets in a store, etc.).
With indirect measurement, the desired value is determined mathematically based on the knowledge of other quantities obtained by direct measurement. For example, knowing the size and weight of building bricks, it is possible to measure the specific pressure (with appropriate calculations) that a brick must withstand when building multi-storey buildings.
The value of measurements is evident even from the fact that they provide accurate, quantitatively defined information about the surrounding reality. As a result of measurements, such facts can be established, such empirical discoveries can be made that lead to a radical break in the ideas that have been established in science. This applies primarily to unique, outstanding measurements, which are very important milestones in the history of science. A similar role was played in the development of physics, for example, by A. Michelson's famous measurements of the speed of light.
The most important indicator of the quality of measurement, its scientific value is accuracy. It was the high accuracy of T. Brahe's measurements, multiplied by the extraordinary diligence of I. Kepler (he repeated his calculations 70 times), that made it possible to establish the exact laws of planetary motion. Practice shows that the main ways to improve the accuracy of measurements should be considered:
improving the quality of measuring instruments, operating on the basis of certain established principles;
creation of devices operating on the basis of the latest scientific discoveries. For example, now time is measured using molecular generators with an accuracy of up to 11 digits.
Among the empirical methods of research, measurement occupies approximately the same place as observation and comparison. It is a relatively elementary method, one of the components of the experiment - the most complex and significant method of empirical research.
Experiment
Experiment - the study of any phenomena by actively influencing them by creating new conditions that correspond to the goals of the study, or by changing the course of the process in the right direction. This is the most complex and effective method of empirical research. It involves the use of the simplest empirical methods - observation, comparison and measurements. However, its essence is not in particular complexity, "syntheticity", but in a purposeful, deliberate transformation of the phenomena under study, in the intervention of the experimenter in accordance with his goals during natural processes.
It should be noted that the establishment of the experimental method in science is a long process that took place in the acute struggle of the advanced scientists of the New Age against ancient speculation and medieval scholasticism. (For example, the English materialist philosopher F. Bacon was one of the first to oppose experiment in science, although he advocated experience.)
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), who considered experience as the basis of knowledge, is rightfully considered the founder of experimental science. Some of his studies are the basis of modern mechanics: he established the laws of inertia, free fall and the movement of bodies on an inclined plane, the addition of movements, discovered the isochronism of the pendulum oscillation. He himself built a telescope with a 32-fold magnification and discovered mountains on the Moon, four satellites of Jupiter, phases near Venus, spots on the Sun. In 1657, after his death, the Florentine Academy of Experience arose, which worked according to his plans and aimed primarily at conducting experimental research. Scientific and technological progress requires an ever wider application of the experiment. As for modern science, its development is simply unthinkable without experiment. At present, experimental research has become so important that it is considered as one of the main forms of practical activity of researchers.
Benefits of experiment over observation
1. During the experiment, it becomes possible to study this or that phenomenon in a "pure" form. This means that any kind of "skirt" factors obscuring the main process can be eliminated, and the researcher obtains accurate knowledge about the phenomenon of interest to us.
2. The experiment allows you to explore the properties of objects of reality in extreme conditions:
at ultra-low and ultra-high temperatures;
at high pressures:
at huge intensities of electric and magnetic fields, etc.
Working under these conditions can lead to the discovery of the most unexpected and amazing properties in ordinary things and thus allows you to penetrate much deeper into their essence. Superconductivity can serve as an example of this kind of "strange" phenomena discovered under extreme conditions relating to the field of control.
3. The most important advantage of the experiment is its repeatability. During the experiment, the necessary observations, comparisons and measurements can be carried out, as a rule, as many times as necessary to obtain reliable data. This feature of the experimental method makes it very valuable in research.
All the advantages of the experiment will be discussed in more detail below, when presenting some specific types of experiment.
Situations Requiring Experimental Investigation
1. A situation when it is necessary to detect previously unknown properties of an object. The result of such an experiment are statements that do not follow from the existing knowledge about the object.
A classic example is the experiment of E. Rutherford on the scattering of X-particles, as a result of which the planetary structure of the atom was established. Such experiments are called research.
2. The situation when it is necessary to check the correctness of certain statements or theoretical constructions.
15. Methods of theoretical research. Axiomatic method, abstraction, idealization, formalization, deduction, analysis, synthesis, analogy.
A characteristic feature of theoretical knowledge is that the subject of knowledge deals with abstract objects. Theoretical knowledge is characterized by consistency. If individual empirical facts can be accepted or refuted without changing the totality of empirical knowledge, then in theoretical knowledge, a change in individual elements of knowledge entails a change in the entire system of knowledge. Theoretical knowledge also requires its own techniques (methods) of cognition, focused on testing hypotheses, substantiating principles, and building a theory.
Idealization- epistemological relation, where the subject mentally constructs an object, the prototype of which is in the real world. And it is characterized by the introduction into the object of such features that are absent in its real prototype, and the exclusion of the properties inherent in this prototype. As a result of these operations, concepts were developed - "point", "circle", "straight line", "ideal gas", "absolutely black body" - idealized objects. Having formed an object, the subject gets the opportunity to operate with it as with a real-life object - to build abstract schemes of real processes, to find ways to penetrate into their essence. I. has the limit of its capabilities. I. is created to solve a specific problem. It is not always possible to ensure the transition from the ideal. object to empirical.
Formalization- construction of abstract models for the study of real objects. F. provides the ability to operate with signs, formulas. The derivation of some formulas from others according to the rules of logic and mathematics makes it possible to establish theoretical patterns without empiricism. Ф plays an important role in the analysis and refinement of scientific concepts. In scientific knowledge, sometimes it is impossible not only to solve, but even to formulate a problem until the concepts related to it are clarified.
Generalization and abstraction- two logical techniques that are almost always used together in the process of cognition. Generalization is a mental selection, fixation of some common essential properties that belong only to a given class of objects or relations. abstraction- this is a mental abstraction, the separation of general, essential properties, highlighted as a result of generalization, from other non-essential or non-general properties of the objects or relations under consideration and the rejection (within the framework of our study) of the latter. Abstraction cannot be carried out without generalization, without highlighting the general, essential that is subject to abstraction. Generalization and abstraction are invariably used in the process of concept formation, in the transition from representations to concepts, and, together with induction, as a heuristic method.
Cognition is a specific type of human activity aimed at comprehending the surrounding world and oneself in this world. "Cognition is, primarily due to socio-historical practice, the process of acquiring and developing knowledge, its constant deepening, expansion, and improvement."
Theoretical knowledge is, first of all, an explanation of the causes of phenomena. This presupposes the clarification of the internal contradictions of things, the prediction of the probable and necessary occurrence of events and the tendencies of their development.
The concept of method (from the Greek word "methodos" - the path to something) means a set of techniques and operations for the practical and theoretical development of reality.
The theoretical level of scientific knowledge is characterized by the predominance of the rational moment - concepts, theories, laws and other forms and "mental operations". The theoretical level is a higher level in scientific knowledge. "The theoretical level of knowledge is aimed at the formation of theoretical laws that meet the requirements of universality and necessity, i.e. act everywhere and always." The results of theoretical knowledge are hypotheses, theories, laws.
Empirical and theoretical levels of knowledge are interconnected. The empirical level acts as the basis, the foundation of the theoretical one. Hypotheses and theories are formed in the process of theoretical understanding of scientific facts, statistical data obtained at the empirical level. In addition, theoretical thinking inevitably relies on sensory-visual images (including diagrams, graphs, etc.) with which the empirical level of research deals.
Formalization and axiomatization"
The scientific methods of the theoretical level of research include:
Formalization is a reflection of the results of thinking in exact concepts or statements, i.e., the construction of abstract mathematical models that reveal the essence of the studied processes of reality. It is inextricably linked with the construction of artificial or formalized scientific laws. Formalization is the display of meaningful knowledge in sign formalism (formalized language). The latter is created for the exact expression of thoughts in order to exclude the possibility of ambiguous understanding. When formalizing, reasoning about objects is transferred to the plane of operating with signs (formulas). The relations of signs replace statements about the properties and relations of objects. Formalization plays an important role in the analysis, clarification and explication of scientific concepts. Formalization is especially widely used in mathematics, logic and modern linguistics.
Abstraction, idealization
Each object under study is characterized by many properties and is connected by many threads with other objects. In the process of natural science knowledge, it becomes necessary to focus on one side or property of the object under study and abstract from a number of its other qualities or properties.
Abstraction is the mental selection of an object, in abstraction from its connections with other objects, some property of an object in abstraction from its other properties, any relation of objects in abstraction from the objects themselves.
Initially, abstraction was expressed in the selection of some objects with hands, eyes, tools and distraction from others. This is evidenced by the origin of the word "abstract" itself - from lat. abstractio - removal, distraction. Yes, and the Russian word "abstract" comes from the verb "to drag".
Abstraction is a necessary condition for the emergence and development of any science and human knowledge in general. The question of what in objective reality is distinguished by the abstracting work of thinking and from what thinking is distracted, in each specific case is solved in direct proportion to the nature of the object being studied and the tasks that are set before the researcher. For example, in mathematics, many problems are solved using equations without considering the specific objects behind them - whether they are people or animals, plants or minerals. This is the great power of mathematics, and at the same time its limitations.
For mechanics, which studies the movement of bodies in space, the physical and kinetic properties of bodies, except for mass, are indifferent. I. Kepler did not care about the reddish color of Mars or the temperature of the Sun to establish the laws of planetary circulation. When Louis de Broglie (1892-1987) was looking for a connection between the properties of the electron as a particle and as a wave, he had the right not to be interested in any other characteristics of this particle.
Abstraction is the movement of thought deep into the subject, the selection of its essential elements. For example, in order for a given property of an object to be regarded as chemical, a distraction, an abstraction, is necessary. Indeed, the chemical properties of a substance do not include a change in its shape, so the chemist examines copper, distracting from what exactly is made of it.
In the living fabric of logical thinking, abstractions make it possible to reproduce a deeper and more accurate picture of the world than can be done with the help of perception.
An important method of natural science knowledge of the world is idealization as a specific type of abstraction.
Idealization is the mental formation of abstract objects that do not exist and are not feasible in reality, but for which there are prototypes in the real world.
Idealization is the process of forming concepts, the real prototypes of which can only be indicated with varying degrees of approximation. Examples of idealized concepts: "point", i.e. an object that has neither length, nor height, nor width; "straight line", "circle", "point electric charge", "ideal gas", "absolutely black body", etc.
The introduction of idealized objects into the natural science process of studying allows the construction of abstract schemes of real processes, which is necessary for a deeper penetration into the laws of their course.
Indeed, nowhere in nature is there a "geometric point" (without dimensions), but an attempt to construct a geometry that does not use this abstraction does not lead to success. Similarly, it is impossible to develop geometry without such idealized concepts as "straight line", "plane". "ball", etc. All real prototypes of the ball have potholes and irregularities on their surface, and some deviate somewhat from the "ideal" shape of the ball (like the earth), but if geometers began to deal with such potholes, bumps and deviations , they could never get the formula for the volume of a sphere. Therefore, we study the "idealized" shape of the ball, and although the resulting formula, when applied to real figures that only look like a ball, gives some error, the resulting approximate answer is sufficient for practical needs.
Description, comparison, measurement are research procedures that are part of empirical methods and are different options for obtaining initial information about the object under study, depending on the method of its primary structuring and linguistic expression.
Indeed, the initial empirical data for their fixation and further use must be presented in some special language. Depending on the logical-conceptual structure of this language, it is possible to speak of various types concepts or terms. So, R. Carnap divides scientific concepts into three main groups: classification, comparative, quantitative. Starting from kind terms used, we can single out, respectively, description, comparison, measurement.
Description.Description is the acquisition and representation of empirical data in qualitative terms. As a rule, the description is based on narrative, or narrative, schemes using natural language. Note that in a certain sense, the presentation in terms of comparison and in quantitative terms is also a kind of description. But here we use the term "description" in a narrow sense - as the primary representation of empirical content in the form of affirmative factual judgments. Sentences of this kind, fixing the presence or absence of any attribute of a given object, are called in logic attributive, and terms that express certain properties attributed to a given object - predicates.
Concepts that function as qualitative ones generally characterize the object of study in a completely natural way (for example, when we describe a liquid as “odorless, transparent, with sediment at the bottom of the vessel”, etc.). But they can also be used in a more specific way, relating an object to a certain class. This is how they are used taxonomic, those. carrying out a certain classification of concepts in zoology, botany, microbiology. This means that already at the stage of qualitative description, the conceptual ordering of the empirical material (its characterization, grouping, classification) takes place.
In the past, descriptive (or descriptive) procedures have played a fairly important role in science. Many disciplines used to be purely descriptive. For example, in modern European science up to the 18th century. natural scientists worked in the style of "natural history", compiling voluminous descriptions of all kinds of properties of plants, minerals, substances, etc. (and from a modern point of view, often somewhat haphazardly), building long series of qualities, similarities and differences between objects.
Today, descriptive science as a whole is pushed aside in its positions by areas oriented towards mathematical methods. However, even now the description as a means of representing empirical data has not lost its significance. In the biological sciences, where it was direct observation and descriptive presentation of material that were their beginning, and today they continue to make significant use of descriptive procedures in such disciplines as botany and zoology. Description plays an important role in humanitarian sciences: history, ethnography, sociology, etc.; and also in geographical and geological sciences.
Of course, the description in modern science has taken on a somewhat different character compared to its former forms. In modern descriptive procedures, the standards of accuracy and unambiguity of descriptions are of great importance. After all, a truly scientific description of experimental data should have the same meaning for any scientists, i.e. must be universal, constant in its content, having intersubjective significance. This means that it is necessary to strive for such concepts, the meaning of which is clarified and fixed in one or another recognized way. Of course, descriptive procedures initially allow for some possibility of ambiguity and inaccuracy of presentation. For example, depending on the individual style of a particular geologist, descriptions of the same geological objects sometimes turn out to be significantly different from each other. The same thing happens in medicine during the initial examination of the patient. However, in general, these discrepancies in real scientific practice are corrected, acquiring a greater degree of reliability. For this, special procedures are used: comparison of data from independent sources of information, standardization of descriptions, clarification of criteria for the use of a particular assessment, control by more objective, instrumental research methods, harmonization of terminology, etc.
The description, like all other procedures used in scientific activity, is constantly being improved. This allows scientists today to give it an important place in the methodology of science and to fully use it in modern scientific knowledge.
Comparison. When compared, empirical data are represented, respectively, in terms of comparison. This means that the feature denoted by the comparative term can have different degrees of severity, i.e. be attributed to some object to a greater or lesser extent compared to another object from the same studied population. For example, one object may be warmer, darker than another; one color may seem more pleasant to the subject in a psychological test than another, and so on. The comparison operation from a logical point of view is represented attitude judgments(or relative judgments). It is remarkable that the comparison operation is feasible even when we do not have a clear definition of any term, there are no exact standards for comparative procedures. For example, we may not know what the “perfect” red color looks like, and we may not be able to characterize it, but at the same time we can easily compare colors according to the degree of “remoteness” from the supposed standard, saying that one of the red-like colors is clearly lighter red, the other is darker, the third is even darker than the second, etc.
When trying to reach consensus on matters of difficulty, it is better to use relational judgments than simple attributive sentences. For example, when evaluating a certain theory, the question of its unambiguous characterization as true can cause serious difficulties, while it is much easier to come to unity in comparative particular questions that this theory agrees better with the data than a competing theory, or that it is simpler than the other, more intuitively plausible, etc.
These successful qualities of relative judgments have contributed to the fact that comparative procedures and comparative concepts have taken an important place in scientific methodology. The significance of the terms of comparison also lies in the fact that with their help it is possible to achieve a very noticeable improve accuracy in concepts where the methods of direct introduction of units of measure, i.e. translation into the language of mathematics, do not work due to the specifics of this scientific field. This applies primarily to the humanities. In such areas, thanks to the use of comparison terms, it is possible to construct certain scales with an ordered structure similar to a number series. And precisely because it turns out to be easier to formulate a judgment of a relation than to give a qualitative description in an absolute degree, the terms of comparison make it possible to streamline the subject area without introducing a clear unit of measurement. A typical example of this approach is the Mohs scale in mineralogy. It is used to determine comparative hardness of minerals. According to this method, proposed in 1811 by F. Moos, one mineral is considered harder than another if it leaves a scratch on it; on this basis, a conditional 10-point hardness scale is introduced, in which the hardness of talc is taken as 1, the hardness of diamond is taken as 10.
Scaling is actively used in the humanities. Thus, it plays an important role in sociology. An example of common scaling methods in sociology is the Thurstone, Likert, Guttman scales, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages. Scales can themselves be classified according to their informative capabilities. For example, S. Stevens in 1946 proposed a similar classification for psychology, distinguishing between the scale nominal(which is an unordered set of classes), ranking
(in which the varieties of the trait are arranged in ascending or descending order, according to the degree of possession of the trait), proportional(allowing not only to express the relationship "more - less", as a rank, but also creating the possibility of a more detailed measurement of similarities and differences between features).
The introduction of a scale for evaluating certain phenomena, even if not perfect enough, already creates the possibility of ordering the corresponding field of phenomena; the introduction of a more or less developed scale turns out to be a very effective technique: the rank scale, despite its simplicity, allows you to calculate the so-called. rank correlation coefficients, characterizing the severity connections between different phenomena. In addition, there is such a complicated method as using multidimensional scales, structuring information at once on several grounds and allowing to more accurately characterize any integral quality.
To perform a comparison operation, certain conditions and logical rules are required. First of all, there must be a known qualitative uniformity compared objects; these objects must belong to the same naturally formed class (natural species), as, for example, in biology we compare the structure of organisms belonging to the same taxonomic unit.
Further, the compared material must obey a certain logical structure, which can be adequately described by the so-called. order relations. In logic, these relations are well studied: an axiomatization of these relations with the help of axioms of order is proposed, various orders are described, for example, partial ordering, linear ordering.
In logic, special comparative techniques, or schemes, are also known. These include, first of all, the traditional methods of studying the relationship of features, which in the standard course of logic are called methods of revealing the causal connection and dependence of phenomena, or Bacon-Mill methods. These methods describe a set of simple patterns of exploratory thinking that scientists apply almost automatically when performing comparison procedures. Inference by analogy also plays a significant role in comparative research.
In the case when the comparison operation comes to the fore, becoming, as it were, the semantic core of the entire scientific search, i.e. acts as the leading procedure in the organization of empirical material, they speak of comparative method in one area of research or another. The biological sciences are a prime example of this. The comparative method played an important role in the formation of such disciplines as comparative anatomy, comparative physiology, embryology, evolutionary biology, etc. Comparison procedures are used to study the form and function, genesis and evolution of organisms qualitatively and quantitatively. With the help of the comparative method, knowledge about diverse biological phenomena is streamlined, the possibility of putting forward hypotheses and creating generalizing concepts is created. So, on the basis of the commonality of the morphological structure of certain organisms, a hypothesis is naturally put forward about the commonality and their origin or life activity, etc. Another example of the systematic deployment of the comparative method is the problem of differential diagnosis in the medical sciences, when the comparative method becomes the leading strategy for analyzing information about similar symptom complexes. In order to understand in detail the multicomponent, dynamic arrays of information, including various kinds of uncertainties, distortions, multifactorial phenomena, complex algorithms for comparing and processing data, including computer technologies, are used.
So, comparison as a research procedure and a form of representation of empirical material is an important conceptual tool that allows you to achieve a significant streamlining of the subject area and clarify concepts, serves as a heuristic tool for putting forward hypotheses and further theorizing; it can acquire a leading role in certain research situations, acting as comparative method.
Measurement. Measurement is a research procedure that is more advanced than qualitative description and comparison, but only in those areas where it is really possible to use mathematical approaches effectively.
Measurement- this is a method of attributing quantitative characteristics to the studied objects, their properties or relationships, carried out according to certain rules. The very act of measurement, despite its apparent simplicity, presupposes a special logical-conceptual structure. It distinguishes:
1) the object of measurement, considered as value, to be measured;
2) a measurement method, including a metric scale with a fixed unit of measurement, measurement rules, measuring instruments;
3) the subject, or the observer, who carries out the measurement;
4) the measurement result, which is subject to further interpretation. The result of the measurement procedure is expressed, like the result of the comparison, in relationship judgments, but in this case this ratio is numerical, i.e. quantitative.
The measurement is carried out in a certain theoretical and methodological context, which includes the necessary theoretical prerequisites, and methodological guidelines, and instrumental equipment, and practical skills. In scientific practice, measurement is not always a relatively simple procedure; much more often, complex, specially prepared conditions are required for its implementation. In modern physics, the measurement process itself is served by rather serious theoretical constructions; they contain, for example, a set of assumptions and theories about the design and operation of the measuring and experimental setup itself, about the interaction of the measuring device and the object under study, about the physical meaning of certain quantities obtained as a result of the measurement. The conceptual apparatus that supports the measurement process also includes special axiom systems, concerning measuring procedures (A.N. Kolmogorov's axioms, N. Bourbaki's theory).
To illustrate the range of problems related to the theoretical support of measurement, one can point out the difference in measurement procedures for the quantities extensive and intensive. Extensive (or additive) quantities are measured using simpler operations. The property of additive quantities is that with some natural connection of two bodies, the value of the measured value of the resulting combined body will be equal to the arithmetic sum of the values of the constituent bodies. Such quantities include, for example, length, mass, time, electric charge. A completely different approach is required to measure intensive or non-additive quantities. Such quantities include, for example, temperature, gas pressure. They characterize not the properties of single objects, but mass, statistically fixed parameters of collective objects. To measure such quantities, special rules are required, with the help of which it is possible to arrange the range of values of an intensive quantity, build a scale, highlight fixed values on it, and set the unit of measurement. Thus, the creation of a thermometer is preceded by a set of special actions to create a scale suitable for measuring the quantitative value of temperature.
The measurements are divided by straight and indirect. With direct measurement, the result is obtained directly from the measurement process itself. With indirect measurement, the value of some other quantities is obtained, and the desired result is achieved using calculations based on a certain mathematical relationship between these quantities. Many phenomena that are inaccessible to direct measurement, such as objects of the microcosm, distant cosmic bodies, can only be measured indirectly.
Measurement objectivity. The most important measurement characteristic is objectivity the result they achieve. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly distinguish the actual measurement from other procedures that supply empirical objects with any numerical values: arithmetization, which is arbitrary quantitative ordering of objects (say, by assigning points to them, some numbers), scaling, or ranking, based on the comparison procedure and ordering the subject area by rather crude means, often in terms of the so-called. fuzzy sets. A typical example of such a ranking is the system of school grades, which, of course, is not a measurement.
The purpose of the measurement is to determine the numerical ratio of the quantity under study to another quantity that is homogeneous with it (taken as a unit of measurement). This goal requires scales(usually, uniform) and units. The result of the measurement must be recorded quite unambiguously, be invariant with respect to the means of measurement (for example, the temperature must be the same regardless of the subject carrying out the measurement, and on which thermometer it is measured). If the initial unit of measurement is chosen relatively arbitrarily, by virtue of some agreement (i.e., conventionally), then the measurement result should have a really objective meaning, to be expressed by a certain value in the selected units of measurement. The measurement, therefore, contains both conventional, so objective components.
However, in practice, achieving scale uniformity and unit stability is often not so easy: for example, the usual procedure for measuring length requires rigid and strictly rectilinear measuring scales, as well as a standard standard that is not subject to change; in those scientific fields where paramount importance is maximum accuracy measurements, the creation of such measuring instruments can present significant technical and theoretical difficulties.
Measurement accuracy. The concept of accuracy should be distinguished from the concept of measurement objectivity. Of course, these terms are often synonymous. However, there is a certain difference between them. Objectivity is a characteristic of meaning measurements as a cognitive procedure. You can only measure objectively existing quantities that have the property of being invariant to the means and conditions of measurement; the presence of objective conditions for measurement is a fundamental opportunity to create a situation for measuring a given quantity. Accuracy is a feature subjective side of the measurement process, i.e. characteristic our opportunity fix the value of an objectively existing quantity. Therefore, measurement is a process that, as a rule, can be improved indefinitely. When there are objective conditions for measurement, the operation of measurement becomes doable, but it can almost never be done. in perfect measure those. actually used measuring device cannot be ideal, absolutely accurately reproducing the objective value. Therefore, the researcher specifically formulates for himself the task of achieving required degree of accuracy, those. the degree of accuracy that sufficient to solve a specific problem and beyond which, in a given research situation, it is simply impractical to increase the accuracy. In other words, the objectivity of the measured values is a necessary condition for measurement, the accuracy of the values achieved is sufficient.
So, we can formulate the ratio of objectivity and accuracy: scientists measure objectively existing quantities, but measure them only with some degree of accuracy.
It is interesting to note that the requirement precision, presented in science for measurements, arose relatively late - only at the end of the 16th century, it was precisely connected with the formation of a new, mathematically oriented natural science. A. Koyre draws attention to the fact that the previous practice completely dispensed with the requirement for accuracy: for example, the drawings of machines were built by eye, approximately, and in everyday life there was no single system of measures - weights and volumes were measured in various "local methods", there was no constant time measurements. The world began to change, to become “more accurate” only from the 17th century, and this impulse came largely from science, in connection with its growing role in the life of society.
The concept of measurement accuracy is associated with the instrumental side of measurement, with the capabilities of measuring instruments. Measuring device call a measuring instrument designed to obtain information about the value under study; in the measuring device, the measured characteristic is converted in one way or another into indication, which is determined by the researcher. The technical capabilities of the instruments are of decisive importance in complex research situations. So, measuring instruments are classified according to the stability of indications, sensitivity, measurement limits and other properties. The accuracy of the device depends on many parameters, being an integral characteristic of the measuring tool. The value created by the device deviations on the required degree of accuracy is called error measurements. Measurement errors are usually divided by systematic and random. Systematic are called those that have a constant value in the entire series of measurements (or change according to a known law).
Knowing the numerical value of systematic errors, they can be taken into account and neutralized in subsequent measurements. Random also called errors that are non-systematic in nature, i.e. caused by various random factors that interfere with the researcher. They cannot be taken into account and excluded as systematic errors; however, in a vast array of measurements using statistical methods, it is still possible to identify and take into account the most typical random errors.
Note that a set of important problems related to accuracy and measurement errors, with acceptable error intervals, with methods for improving accuracy, accounting for errors, etc., is solved in a special applied discipline - measurement theory. More general questions concerning the methods and rules of measurement in general are dealt with in science metrology. In Russia, the founder of metrology was D.I. Mendeleev. In 1893, he created the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures, which did a great job of organizing and introducing the metric system in our country.
Measurement as the goal of the study. The exact measurement of one quantity or another may in itself be of the greatest theoretical importance. In this case, obtaining the most accurate value of the studied quantity itself becomes the goal of the study. In the case when the measurement procedure turns out to be rather complicated, requiring special experimental conditions, one speaks of a special measurement experiment. In the history of physics, one of the most famous examples of this kind is the famous experiment of A. Michelson, which in fact was not a single one, but was a long-term series of experiments to measure the speed of the "aether wind" carried out by A. Michelson and his followers. Often the improvement of the measuring technique used in experiments acquires the most important independent significance. So, A. Michelson received the Nobel Prize in 1907 not for his experimental data, but for the creation and use of high-precision optical measuring instruments.
Interpretation of measurement results. The results obtained, as a rule, are not the direct completion of a scientific study. They are subject to further consideration. Already in the course of the measurement itself, the researcher evaluates the achieved accuracy of the result, its plausibility and acceptability, and the significance for the theoretical context in which the given research program is included. The result of such an interpretation sometimes becomes the continuation of measurements, and often this leads to further improvement of measurement technology, adjustment of conceptual premises. The theoretical component plays an important role in measurement practice. An example of the complexity of the theoretical and interpretational context surrounding the measurement process itself is a series of experiments on measuring the electron charge conducted by R.E. Millikan, with their sophisticated interpretive work and increasing precision.
The principle of relativity to the means of observation and measurement. However, it is not always possible to increase the measurement accuracy indefinitely with the improvement of measuring instruments. There are situations where achieving the accuracy of measuring a physical quantity is limited objectively. This fact was discovered in the physics of the microworld. It is reflected in the well-known uncertainty principle of W. Heisenberg, according to which, with an increase in the accuracy of measuring the speed of an elementary particle, the uncertainty of its spatial coordinate increases, and vice versa. W. Heisenberg's result was comprehended by N. Bohr as an important methodological position. Later, the famous Russian physicist V.A. Fock generalized it as "the principle of relativity to the means of measurement and observation". This principle, at first sight, contradicts the requirement objectivity, according to which the measurement must be invariant with respect to the means of measurement. However, the point here is objective the limitations of the measurement procedure itself; for example, research tools themselves can introduce a disturbing effect into the environment, and there are actual situations where it is impossible to abstract from this effect. The influence of a research device on the phenomenon under study is most clearly seen in quantum physics, but the same effect is also observed, for example, in biology, when, when trying to study biological processes, the researcher introduces irreversible destructuring into them. Thus, measurement procedures have an objective applicability limit associated with the specifics of the studied subject area.
So, measurement is the most important research procedure. Measurements require a special theoretical and methodological context. Measurement has the characteristics of objectivity and accuracy. In modern science, it is often the measurement carried out with the required accuracy that serves as a powerful factor in the growth of theoretical knowledge. A significant role in the measurement process is played by the theoretical interpretation of the results obtained, with the help of which both the measuring tools themselves and the conceptual support of the measurement are comprehended and improved. As a research procedure, measurement is far from universal in its possibilities; it has boundaries associated with the specifics of the subject area itself.
Observation
Observation is one of the methods of the empirical level, which has a general scientific value. Historically, observation has played an important role in the development of scientific knowledge, since before the formation of experimental natural science, it was the main means of obtaining experimental data.
Observation- research situation of purposeful perception of objects, phenomena and processes of the surrounding world. There is also observation of the inner world of mental states, or introspection, applied in psychology and called introspection.
Observation as a method of empirical research performs many functions in scientific knowledge. First of all, observation gives the scientist an increase in the information necessary to formulate problems, put forward hypotheses, and test theories. Observation is combined with other research methods: it can be the initial stage of research, precede the setting up of an experiment, which is required for a more detailed analysis of any aspects of the object under study; it can, on the contrary, be carried out after an experimental intervention, acquiring an important meaning dynamic observation(monitoring), as, for example, in medicine, an important role is given to postoperative observation following the experimental operation.
Finally, observation enters other research situations as an essential component: observation is carried out directly in the course of experiment, is an important part of the process modeling at the stage when the behavior of the model is being studied.
Observation - method of empirical research, which consists in a deliberate and purposeful perception of the object under study (without the intervention of the researcher in the process under study).
Observation Structure
Observation as an exploratory situation includes:
1) the subject carrying out the surveillance, or observer;
2) observable an object;
3) conditions and circumstances of observation, which include specific conditions of time and place, technical means of observation and the theoretical context that supports this research situation.
Classification of observations
There are various ways to classify the types of scientific observation. Let's name some bases of classification. First of all, there are types of observation:
1) according to the perceived object - observation direct(in which the researcher studies the properties of a directly observed object) and indirect(in which it is not the object itself that is perceived, but the effects that it causes in the environment or another object. Analyzing these effects, we obtain information about the original object, although, strictly speaking, the object itself remains unobservable. For example, in the physics of the microworld, elementary particles are judged according to the traces that the particles leave during their movement, these traces are fixed and theoretically interpreted);
2) for research facilities - observation immediate(not instrumentally equipped, carried out directly by the senses) and indirect, or instrumental (carried out with the help of technical means, i.e. special instruments, often very complex, requiring special knowledge and auxiliary material and technical equipment), this type of observation is now the main one in the natural sciences;
3) according to the impact on the object - neutral(not affecting the structure and behavior of the object) and transformative(in which there is some change in the object under study and the conditions for its functioning; this type of observation is often intermediate between the actual observation and experimentation);
4) in relation to the totality of the studied phenomena - continuous(when all units of the studied population are studied) and selective(when only a certain part is examined, a sample from the population); this division is important in statistics;
5) according to time parameters - continuous and discontinuous; at continuous(which is also called narrative in the humanities) research is conducted without interruption for a sufficiently long period of time, it is mainly used to study hard-to-predict processes, for example, in social psychology, ethnography; discontinuous has various subspecies: periodic and non-periodic, etc.
There are other types of classification: for example, according to the level of detail, according to the subject content of the observed, etc.
Key Features of Scientific Observation
Observation is primarily active, purposeful character. This means that the observer does not just register empirical data, but shows a research initiative: he looks for those facts that really interest him in connection with theoretical settings, selects them, and gives them a primary interpretation.
Further, scientific observation is well organized, in contrast to, say, ordinary, everyday observations: it is guided by theoretical ideas about the object under study, equipped technically, often built according to a specific plan, interpreted in an appropriate theoretical context.
Technical equipment is one of the most important features of modern scientific observation. The purpose of technical means of observation is not only to improve the accuracy of the data obtained, but also to ensure the very opportunity to observe a cognizable object, because many subject areas of modern science owe their existence primarily to the availability of appropriate technical support.
The results of scientific observation are represented in some specific scientific way, i.e. in a special language using the terms descriptions, comparisons or measurements. In other words, observational data are immediately structured in one way or another (as the results of a special descriptions or scale values comparisons, or the results measurements). In this case, the data are recorded in the form of graphs, tables, diagrams, etc., so the primary systematization of the material is carried out, suitable for further theorization.
There is no "pure" language of observation, completely independent of its theoretical content. The language in which the results of observation are recorded is itself an essential component of this or that theoretical context.
This will be discussed in more detail below.
So, the characteristics of scientific observation should include its purposefulness, initiative, conceptual and instrumental organization.
The difference between observation and experiment
It is generally accepted that the main characteristic of observation is its non-intervention into the processes under study, in contrast to the active introduction into the study area, which is carried out during experimentation. In general, this statement is correct. However, upon closer examination, this provision should be clarified. The fact is that observation is also, to a certain extent, active.
We said above that, in addition to neutral, there is also transformative observation, because there are also situations when observation itself will be impossible without active intervention in the object under study (for example, in histology, without preliminary staining and dissection of living tissue, there will simply be nothing to observe).
But the intervention of the researcher during observation is aimed at achieving optimal conditions for the very same observations. The task of the observer is to obtain a set of primary data about the object; Of course, in this set, some dependences of data groups on each other, certain regularities and patterns are already visible. Therefore, this initial population is subject to further study (and some preliminary guesses and assumptions arise already in the course of the observation itself). However, the researcher does not change structure this data, does not interfere with the relationship between phenomena. Let's say if the phenomena A and B accompany each other in the entire series of observations, the researcher only fixes their cos
Modeling as a Method of the Empirical Level of Cognition
Experiment, experiment planning
Observation and measurement
LECTURE 16
TOPIC: METHODS OF THE EMPIRICAL LEVEL OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
The method of scientific research is a way of knowing the objective reality. The method is a certain sequence of actions, techniques, operations. Depending on the level of scientific knowledge, there are methods of empirical and theoretical levels. The methods of the empirical level include observation, description, comparison, calculation, measurement, experiment. The methods of the theoretical level of scientific knowledge include axiomatic, hypothetical (hypothetical-deductive) and formalization. Allocate methods that are used at both levels of scientific knowledge such as: modeling, abstraction, generalization, classification and general logical methods.
From the considered concept of method, it is necessary to delimit the concepts of technology, procedure and methodology of scientific research.
Under the research technique is understood a set of special techniques for using a particular method, and under the research procedure - a certain sequence of actions, a method of organizing research.
A technique is a set of research methods and techniques, the order of their application and the interpretation of the results obtained with their help. It depends on the nature of the object of study, the methodology, the purpose of the study, the methods developed, the general level of the researcher's qualifications.
Observation- this is a systematic, purposeful perception of any individual aspects of the object, or the object as a whole.
According to the method of conducting, direct and indirect observations are distinguished. At direct observations certain properties, aspects of the object are perceived by the human senses. Indirect Observations carried out using technical means.
In the observations there is no activity aimed at transforming, changing the objects of knowledge. This is due to a number of circumstances:
Inaccessibility of these objects for practical impact;
Undesirability, based on the objectives of the study, interference in the observed process;
Lack of technical, energy, financial and other opportunities for impact.
In biology, direct observations are divided into:
1) field or forwarding;
2) laboratory or stationary.
At field survey distinguish methods:
route;
Key;
Areal;
Combined (to study the area, routes are distinguished, these routes are surveyed using key point systems).
Laboratory observations differ from field observations in the greater repeatability of observations and in the fact that the equipment is usually fixed at the observation point. In laboratory conditions, the possibility of using measuring equipment is incomparably higher than in the field.
The results of observation can be recorded in protocols, diaries, cards, on films and in other ways.
Description- this is a fixation by means of a natural or artificial language of the features of the object under study, which are established by observation or measurement. Description happens:
1) direct when the researcher directly perceives and indicates the features of the object;
2) indirect when the researcher notes the features of the object that were perceived by other persons.
Check- this is the definition of quantitative ratios of objects of study or parameters that characterize their properties. The method is widely used in statistics to determine the degree and type of variability of a phenomenon, process, the reliability of the obtained average values and theoretical conclusions.
Most scientific observations involve making a variety of measurements.
Measurement- this is the determination of the numerical value of a certain quantity by comparing it with a standard. Measurement is the procedure for determining the numerical value of some quantity by means of a unit of measurement. The value of this procedure lies in the fact that it provides precise, quantitative, definite information about the surrounding reality.
The most important indicator of the quality of measurement, its scientific value is the accuracy, which depends on the researcher and on the available measuring instruments.
There are the following types of measurements:
1) by the nature of the dependence of the measured value on time:
Static (the measured value remains constant over time);
Dynamic (the measured value changes in time during the measurement process).
2) according to the method of obtaining the results:
Direct measurements (the value of the measured quantity is obtained by directly comparing it with a standard or is issued by a measuring device);
Indirect measurements (a value is determined on the basis of a known mathematical relationship between this value and other quantities obtained by direct measurements).
Comparison- this is a comparison of the features inherent in two or more objects, establishing a difference between them or finding something in common in them, carried out both by the senses and with the help of special devices.
