The Ten Characteristics of the Scientific Research
Professors and supervisors in general request scientific papers in college but do not always bother to explain what the basic characteristics of a scientific work are. Thinking about this, I tried to summarize in what follows the main characteristics of the scientific research. Note that to do scientific work, you need to have a scientific attitude first.
To perform a scientific task that obeys the scientific process, it is necessary to verify that your essay includes the following elements.
1. Objectivity. Scientific knowledge is based on facts and it seeks to describe them and analyze them objectively, regardless of emotional considerations or preconceived ideas. The empirical data is the raw material of theoretical formulations.
2. Theorization. In addition to describing the facts, science rationalizes the observations. The researcher formulates hypotheses and hypothesis systems, that is, theories. In other words, the real source of the discoveries is not the raw facts, but the theorization of hypotheses in the form of theories.
3. Analyze. Scientific research addresses well-defined or partial problems, aiming at partial solutions. It seeks to unfold an entire complex into its simplest components. Therefore, science starts with partial problems.
4. Specialization. The analysis of partial and delimited problems leads to specialization. Although there is unity in the scientific method, the multiplicity of techniques has resulted in the relative independence of the various sectors.
5. Precision. Science seeks clarity and precision. Clarity and precision are revealed in the formulation of problems and in the definition of concepts.
6. Communicability. The language of science, precise and rigorous, is primarily aimed at informing. It is the duty of every scientist to communicate the results of his research to the world of science so that they can be verified, confirmed or refuted (if necessary). This is so important that there are specific rules for the scientific discourse.
7. Verifiability. This means that the hypotheses and theories must be testable. It is necessary to check whether they have a greater or lesser degree of reliability. The test is empirical and observable. In other words, the confirmation of the hypothesis involves carrying out experiments.
8. Method. Scientific research is planned so it is part of an already accumulated knowledge. Science is subject to its methods but can adapt and perfect them.
9. Systematization. The goal of science is to create a system of ideas logically related to each other.
10. Generalization. Particular statements are included in broad schemes, allowing for a greater degree of generalization. Particular facts are studied in view of general hypothesis or theories. The scientist who works in his laboratory seeks to reach the universals that his logical reason discovers in the complex structure of particular facts of nature.