What is Science Methodolgy?

By Alice Lane

To begin with let's define science. Science comes from the Latin word scientia which means knowledge. Science is the effort to understand or have a better understanding of a whole variety of phenomena. One of these phenomena is how the physical world works and has observable evidence as the basis of understanding. Often times experimentation tries to stimulate events under controlled conditions which is observed and often times measured prior to some conclusions being drawn. It is often a long and drawn out process. Sometimes accidents turn into discoveries due to the mistake being observed carefully. Conclusions are being drawn from the unexpected outcome of the accident. Sometimes when experiments are undertaken in a place such as a southern Chicago hospital, it is probably a good thing that the experiments are controlled as precisely as possible.

That's where scientific methodology comes in. Methodology refers to a body of procedures for exploring phenomena and acquiring new data or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. There is a lot of data on prostate cancer treatments for instance. It has been studied for years yet the researchers are still finding many new effects regarding new treatments by putting new results with old findings and coming up with exciting new successful treatments.

There is a caveat in some of this though. Sometimes methodology is all but dictated by scientists themselves, the government or industry. For instance if you are familiar with behaviorism, it was the ruling psychological dogma for about sixty years. Even though it couldn't explain how language was developed it still ruled due to those in control. If you are not aware of this, you may find yourself following a methodology blindly. As scientists collect data through observation and experimentation they propose hypotheses. If scientists aren't free to develop the hypotheses they feel compelled to, then the scientific methodology is not going to get the results needed.

One area that is somewhat controversial is that of natural ingredients used for curing diseases. It is often confusing if research is avoided by the lack of funding due to the inability to patent natural ingredients. That makes some sense but then again almost all drugs originate from some form of natural ingredients. Some of the drugs that are used before, during and after heart bypass surgery were derived from natural sources. Some things that seem black and white just aren't so in the jungle of scientific methodology. There are many natural ingredients that aren't being used that seem to work but can't be synthesized and there are also many natural ingredients in more and more doctors offices that do work and won't ever be synthesized. To have a repeatable process that is well documented with a well formulated hypothesis that is objective and unbiased is a difficult endeavor. On top of that the scientist must have full disclosure so that the experiment can be verified by other scientists. It is a fascinating and confusing world.

Scientific methodology is being used everywhere there are experiments to improve medicine. From the labs of asouthern Chicago hospital studying prostate cancer treatments to heart bypass surgery experiments around the country, scientific methodology is being used everywhere. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alice_Lane