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Science is a system of knowledge which we derive from observation. Science can be divided into two distinct fields One of these is Social Science, which can be described as the study of the social life of human beings. Social Sciences, such as economics, law, criminology, and psychology consider the nature, growth, and functioning of human society. While Social Sciences are focused on human interaction, the other major field, Natural Sciences, studies the environment that humans live in. It does this by developing and testing laws of mass, motion, energy, etc. Even though the two fields are different, they both use the same system to collect information and test theories.
This system used by both fields is the scientific method. There are many different versions of the Scientific Method. They differ by the number of steps each uses. But in my opinion, the Scientific Method has only four key steps.
The first is observation. All Science begins with the observation of facts in our environment. Then, after we collect enough information about the development of a certain event in nature, we begin to formulate questions. Questions such as, why can birds fly, but humans cannot, or why must everything fall to the ground.
After we have a lot of questions about the event that we cant understand, then we try to explain a reason for the event. Therefore, the second step is to make a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an idea that suggests an explanation for something that has not yet been proven to be true. For example, Galileo guessed that the world was not the center of the universe and Columbus guessed that the world was not flat, but round. But the only way to know if a hypothesis is accurate is to prove it by using an experiment. So, the third step is to test the hypothesis with a thorough experiment.
Testing should occur in a situation where the surroundings are fixed and controlled. Furthermore, the same test should be repeated multiple times in order to make sure that the result can be trusted. The final step is to summarize the findings of the experiment. In this step, the hypothesis is either confirmed or it is changed and more testing is done.
Therefore, it is possible that the summary of the results may be contradictory to the original hypothesis. A hypothesis that is proven by many experiments may eventually become a theory. A theory is an explanation for an event that is widely excepted as being true. Sometimes we do not get a reasonable result from the experiment, but it doesnt mean that the hypothesis is wrong.
It may be that there is another factor that you forgot to control. At this point, this hypothesis cannot be accepted as a theory. Maybe several years later someone can get a reasonable result using a better experimental design. Another case that can happen is when you get a reasonable result but you cant explain how.
In this situation, at a later date someone may be able to use new technology to explain your findings. For example, many elements in the periodic table were known to exist before an experiment could prove it. Because we cannot collect data from everyone on earth, all Social Science theories are made from sample populations. So they may not be true for everyone.
This is a way that Social Science is different than natural science. Natural Science theories are based on specific things, but these things are always the same in the universe. Two examples will further show how Natural Science and Social Science are similar and different. DESCRIBE TWO EXPERIMENTS -Natural Science Eureka Physics about determine the volume of an object. Archimedes started his theory from his observations. He saw that when he replaced something into water, which is in a brimmed container, then some water would over flow out of the container.
He made a Hypothesis that the amount of the water displaced was equal to the volume of the object. He started his Experiment by taking an object, which has a precise volume, and placing it into the water. Then he measured the amount of water that poured out and realized that its volume equaled the volume of the object. He did this same experiment over and over again until he came up with the following Summary The volume of hard objects, which sink can be replaceable measured by water; This is the theory of the Eureka Physics. -Social Science The following is a psychological experiment, starting with observation. A hypothesis has been formulated that A person perform tasks better than they usually can if he or she a rival. The experiment was started by measuring the distance a person can bike over a period of one hour.
Later, many people were made to bike at the same time. The result was that the same distance the first person biked could be covered in only 45 minutes. The repetition of this same kind of experiment enabled t he following Summary: work is more efficient in the presence of competition. Now we know that the two sciences: Social Science and Natural Science use the same idea to collect information and prove their theories. This is Scientific Method. Although, there are some differences, such as: Natural Science proves theories by using experiments but in Social Science, theories can sometimes be proven using only research, study or etc.
However, they both use the same process to prove their hypotheses. They always do this by first Observing, then making a Hypothesis, then Testing, and finally Summarizing.
Free research essays on topics related to: natural science, hypothesis, collect information, scientific method, social science
Research essay sample on Scientific Method Social Science
