The rules of the scientific method that are most important for its correct application are reproducibility and refutability. In addition, in this methodology to obtain new knowledge, observation, research, establishment of hypotheses and study of data are necessary.
The scientific method is a procedure used to carry out scientific research on empirical phenomena of nature in which a solid knowledge about the phenomenon studied can be established.
This method is made up of a series of steps that, when followed within an investigation, increase productivity and improve the perspective of those who carry it out.
The scientific method has been used to ensure that research results can be supported by empirical evidence verifiable by the scientific community in general. Therein lies its importance.
In addition, it provides the different branches of science with a common way of understanding and communicating the general scientific principles that will be used by all of them.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the largest and most prestigious scientific associations in the world, establishes that within scientific methodology, the scientific method, which is general in nature, is combined with the specialized techniques of each particular science for the production of knowledge.
Most important rules of the scientific method
The steps of the scientific method: question, investigation, hypothesis formulation, experiment, data analysis, conclusions.
The scientific method has a set of rules with which all research and experimentation work must comply, which are those that guarantee that its results meet the necessary criteria to be recognized as scientific knowledge, that is, knowledge supported by evidence.
These rules are reproducibility and refutability.
- Reproducibility
The first rule is reproducibility. It is the process by which the procedure, the evidence and the results obtained in an investigation are made public and transparent, so that they are made accessible to the scientific community in general.
The credibility of scientific statements is based on the evidence that supports them, since they have been obtained through a certain applied methodology, a series of data collected and analyzed, and their interpretation.
Therefore, the principles established based on research that can be reproduced on different occasions and yield the same results, will be reliable principles.
In the foregoing lies the importance of this rule, since when applied, it allows the research procedures to be disseminated and known by other researchers, and this allows them to experience the same processes, and thus, check them.
When applying the scientific method, it is necessary that the research and all the methodology used in it can be later reviewed, criticized and reproduced. Only in this way can your results be credible.
Without this transparency that allows the reproducibility rule, the results could only achieve credibility based on the trust that one has in the author, and transparency is a superior means than trust.
- Refutability
Refutability is a rule that establishes that any truly scientific claim is capable of being refuted. If absolute truths were established in science, it would be implicitly affirming that demonstrated knowledge can never be contradicted in the future.
The scientific method rejects the existence of this possibility, since it is thought that a way could always be devised to contradict, with experimentation, specific or isolated parts of an investigation.
This would yield different results than expected, and with it, an impossibility and relativity would be generated when establishing scientific knowledge.
Therefore, the desirable status of a scientific statement will always be that of "not refuted", and not that of "has been completely verified." To the extent that a scientific statement overcomes several analyzes, critiques and experimentation processes dedicated to contradicting it, its reliability will be increasingly verified and strengthened.
Another important aspect within this rule is that, since scientific knowledge is based on experimental demonstration, the refutability of a scientific statement is only possible, in the same way, through experience.
Consequently, if a postulate could not be disproved through experience, it would not really be a rigorous postulate.
A common example to illustrate this is the following: the statement "tomorrow it will rain or it will not rain here" cannot be empirically affirmed or denied, and therefore, the refutability rule could not apply, according to which, every statement must be susceptible to be refutable.
In the same way that a theory can only be verified on the basis of evidence produced in experimentation, a truly scientific claim cannot be stated in such a way that it is impossible to disprove it through experimentation.
Any scientific claim must meet the requirement of the rule of refutability, and if it does not, it cannot be considered to meet the criteria of the scientific method.
conclusion
In conclusion, the scientific method, made up of the rules of reproducibility and refutability, guarantees a researcher that in the process of solving the problem that arises, he or she will produce a result worthy of being reliable before the scientific community.
Through these rules, the scientific method aims to build a model of study, research and work through which we can offer accurate answers, as far as possible, to various questions that we ask ourselves about the order that nature and nature follow. all of its components.
The application of the scientific method to carry out this objective will give our work the merit that it has been carried out in a rigorous and scientifically responsible manner, and therefore, its results will have an acceptable level of reliability and acceptance.
References
- CAMPOS, P.; BAZÁN, B.; SAN MARTIN.; TORRES, M.; MINGO, B.; FERNÁNDEZ, M.; BOIXADERAS, N.; DE LA RUBIA, M.; RODRÍGUEZ, R.; PINTO, R. & GULLÓN, M. (2003). Biology 1. Retrieved June 27, 2017 on the World Wide Web: books.google.com
- CAREY, S. (2011). A beginner's guide to scientific method. Accessed June 28, 2017 on the World Wide Web: books.google.com
- FOUREZ, G. (1994). The construction of scientific knowledge: sociology and ethics of science. Accessed July 3, 2017 on the World Wide Web: books.google.com
- GAMA, M. (2004). Biology 1. Accessed June 28, 2017 on the World Wide Web: books.google.com
- GAUCH, H. (2003). Scientific method in practice. Accessed June 28, 2017 on the World Wide Web: books.google.com
- Nature Human Behavior (2017). A manifesto for reproducible science. Retrieved July 5, 2017 on the World Wide Web: nature.com
- SCHUSTER, G. (2005). Chapter VI - Explanation and refutability. Consulted on July 5, 2017 on the World Wide Web: library.clacso.edu.ar.