THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Today is 26/12/2010, I sit here to write about the scientific method,
I have a feeling there is a powerful message I  could pass on from this point of view on science.
Its clear that science in itself has become a subject of study because of the “evolvement” of “the methods of finding out and asserting truth”

As far as the world has come science has played a very important role and marked the very beginning of civilization.
I ask myself now, how did science evolve?  
My idea is science evolved the very day man started questioning, for in questioning is reasoning and in reasoning lies the birth of a problem and its solution.
Bible stories recounts the early descendants of Adam , forging metallic farm tools. Somewhere and somehow their reasoning and questioning had finally landed a solution to a problem they had perceived.
Science which not until early 19th century was labeled another form of philosophy , was birth an integration of old and new ideas, which was shared and tested for its validity.
When an idea is validated, by the elite in the society it stays as a fact and its pass down from generation to generation.  Science has evolved into the perfect tool for problem solving today as its developed its own principles around which it functions…

I remember when I was a child , about 8years , I used to think of building my own helicopter.
In my head, I will practically bring to birth the image of the helicopter with the interior switch and everything I could think of .
I realized since I had never seen what it looked like below the dashboard of the helicopter and didn’t even know what all the gauges  and indicators on the dashboard represented.  My thoughts drifted towards how I was going to make the helicopter move.
Because I know I could connect cells to a motor and cause it to wheel , I thought  of how I could connect a lot of cells to cause the “fan” (as I used to call it) on the helicopter to move.
My helicopter was in the form of wood , because at that time I barely understood how metal, as strong as it was could be carved to such a shape.
Everyday I found new ways in my head to cause my helicopter to conform with the idea of what it really was.

Another scenario would be how I thought  to myself at the age of  6 that people had been becoming through some magical means into our room and then into our TV.
I thought for many days how this could be.  My father wont allow me touch his electronic gadgets because he presumed I was too touchy, but yet still I succeeded in touching  and turning the back of the TV to find the portal through which they minimized and went into our TV
As time passed I gave up , until one day when my father  mistakenly touched the aerial out of its position and all the images on our TV went out blank.
I was surprised and thought of what had happened for many days. I later concluded the aerial must have something to do with the images on the TV.
Time taught me bit by bit the rest I needed to know.

As funny as these stories may seem, there are a few ideas I will like to draw from them and enlighten you.
Revisiting these past events now (14 years later), I realize whatever idea or thought I ever conceived , I tried to make sense out of it using my knowledge or whats more my understanding.
Apart from my understanding, my beliefs seemed to tell me what was possible and, and what wasn’t.
Now the whole principle and idea of science as a study is defined by the scientific  method.

What is the scientific method?
Science is first a conceptualization of idea.
The birth of a new idea, could be in many as these three forms; emulation, a could be better and a problem.
Before I continue with the conceptualization concept, I will want to clarify something.
Science as we all know it, can be defined in many ways……but as far as we can all understand, we would all agree is a search for something. A search to find the truth , truth in what ?
It’s a search to find truth in our every conception.
Conception is the first and foremost instigator of the whole science process and without it there is no search at all. Since If you don’t see something  could be emulated, or conceive a problem from tops of your reasoning you think worthy of solving ,then there will be no science at all, since no search will begin.
So we can then define science as the search for truth in every conception and the scientific process, formulates and tests the validity of this conception.


The scientific method.
Before any conception is made there is one stage in the scientific method that causes a beginning . Our ability to observe,notice…..to become aware of…..to become conscious of something. I remember the scientific process taught  to me in school was 1.observation 2.analysis
The two means your ability to watch something carefully or pay close attention to something and realize what it is that is happening.  In actual fact until you are able to notice , there will  be no conception and no search for truth. I will have no reason to search for which portal the people on my TV took into my TV until I noticed it was awkward to have real people on my TV without knowing how they got there.
There is always a probability of a misconception, yet until we notice there will be nothing to prove.
Therefore the first stage of the scientific method will be our ability to notice, the second which happens quite naturally after one has noticed is conception.
this means that , the most important skill , all student of science must have is the ability to notice.
Further after  these two stages, the scientific method becomes fallible because the scientist is asked to fall on his personal experience. If not even so we are all prone to using our personal experience, in terms knowledge ,beliefs and perceptions. (during the time I was thinking about building my helicopter , even in forming the image in my head, I didn’t see how a metal as hard as it was could be forged into such a shape, so I decided to use wood. Now this is  where the fault lies, because then even if the people, the conclusion of the test of the validity of the conception is shared with, have the same perceptions and beliefs then a lie will become truth.)
I believe this is a stage in science which needs futher thought and improvement.
But then again this goes to show that in the fallibility of men , other  truth are also revealed, so if the scientific method is as the following.
1.Notice
2.Concept
3.Use your experience
4.Form a conjecture
5.Deduce a prediction from that explanation
6.Test for validity.
An abstract from the Wikipedia …scientific method concludes opens my thoughts…………

1.Use your experience  Consider the problem and try to make sense of it. Look for previous explanations. If this is a new problem to you, then move to step 2.

2. Form a conjecture: When nothing else is yet known, try to state an explanation, to someone else, or to your notebook.

3. Deduce a prediction from that explanation: If you assume 2 is true, what consequences follow?

4. Test: Look for the opposite of each consequence in order to disprove 2. It is a logical error to seek 3 directly as proof of 2. This error is called affirming the consequent.

Scientific method is not a recipe: it requires intelligence, imagination, and creativity. In this sense, it is not a mindless set of standards and procedures to follow, but is rather an ongoing cycle, constantly developing more useful, accurate and comprehensive models and methods. For example, when Einstein developed the Special and General Theories of Relativity, he did not in any way refute or discount Newton's Principia. On the contrary, if the astronomically large, the vanishingly small, and the extremely fast are reduced out from Einstein's theories — all phenomena that Newton could not have observed — Newton's equations remain. Einstein's theories are expansions and refinements of Newton's theories and, thus, increase our confidence in Newton's work.
A linearized, pragmatic scheme of the four points above is sometimes offered as a guideline for proceeding

1.    Define the question

2.    Gather information and resources (observe)

3.    Form hypothesis

4.    Perform experiment and collect data

5.    Analyze data

6.    Interpret data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypothesis

7.    Publish results

8.    Retest (frequently done by other scientists)

The iterative cycle inherent in this step-by-step methodology goes from point 3 to 6 back to 3 again.
While this schema outlines a typical hypothesis/testing method it should also be noted that a number of philosophers, historians and sociologists of science (perhaps most notably Paul Feyerabend) claim that such descriptions of scientific method have little relation to the ways science is actually practiced.
The "operational" paradigm combines the concepts of operational definition, instrumentalism, and utility:
The essential elements of a scientific method are operations, observations, models, and a utility function for evaluating models.
§  Operation - Some action done to the system being investigated
§  Observation - What happens when the operation is done to the system
§  Model - A fact, hypothesis, theory, or the phenomenon itself at a certain moment
§  Utility Function - A measure of the usefulness of the model to explain, predict, and control, and of the cost of use of it. One of the elements of any scientific utility function is the refutability of the model. Another is its simplicity, on thePrinciple of Parsimony also known as Occam's Razor.

Scientific method is not a recipe: it requires intelligence, imagination, and creativity. In this sense, it is not a mindless set of standards and procedures to follow, but is rather an ongoing cycle, constantly developing more useful, accurate and comprehensive models and methods

Scientific thought therefore only proceeds to guide reasoning and questioning , in order to help us understand the principles of nature in a more exact detail.
If science is to help us understand the physical principles of nature, an understanding which we can only conceive through the non-physical, then there is something yet unexplored of the scientific method.

The scientific method when fully realised will be an eye through which all principles can be unified, from which all understanding can be drawn. The spaces in between and from the distances where thoughts ponders(which is the non-physical), a conception is birthed , and an understanding of this conception is drawn from the physical.
This means as long as our physical barriers and perceptions exist we will refuse to see the whole truth that lies therein in our conception,
The scientific method consists in splitting up everything into minute divisions and parts and to examine each division and part separately, but its synthesis is not the perception of a thing as a whole, it is only the summation of its parts. That something which gives the quality of wholeness always escapes through the meshes of the scientific net~Subodh Kumar Misra

The scientific method will undoubtedly continue to evolve  , but the end  to which it must come to, is what I wish we all, should explore further.
What will then cause this evolution to be whole, and cause the creation of a complete principle that helps us see the whole truth in every conception.

These are my thoughts , whats yours?