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Characteristics of Scientific Method

1.  Empirical The focus of attention is that phenomenon which is observable by using five senses
by the human beings. If one person has observed others can also make that observation which
implies that it is repeatable as well as testable.

2.  Verifiable Observations made by any one researcher could be open to confirmation or refutation
by other observers. Others could also use their sensory experiences for the verification of the
previous findings. The replicability of the phenomenon is essential for repeating the observation.
In this way the intuitions and revelations are out of this process because these are having been the
privileges of special individuals.

3.  Cumulative The knowledge created by this method keeps on growing. The researchers try to
develop linkages between their findings and the findings of previous researchers. The new
findings may support the previous researches, refutethem, or may modify but certainly there is an
addition to the existing body of knowledge. The new researchers need not start from scratch,
rather they have a rich reservoir of knowledge at their disposal and they try to further build on it.

4.  Self-Correcting Possibility of error is always there but the good thing is its identification and
correction. The research findings are shared with other professionals in seminars, conferences,
and by printing these in professional journals. The comments are received and errors, if any, are
corrected. Even the scientists are not categorical in their statements. They would usually make a
statement as is supported by the evidence available at the time. Hence the statement is open to
challenge by the availability of new evidence.

5.  Deterministic Through scientific method the scientists try to explain why things happen? There
could be number of factors producing a particulareffect but the researchers try to find out the
contribution of each factor as well as of different combinations of the same factors. In this way
he tries to identify the factor or combination of factors that produce the maximum effect. In this way he tries to locate the minimum number of causal factors that explain the variation in the
effect. This is the principle of parsimony. Suchan exercise is an effort to determine cause-andeffect relationship.
6.  Ethical and ideological neutrality Researchers are human beings who have values, beliefs,
ideologies, and norms. Effort is made that the personal values, beliefs, and ideologies do not
contaminate the research findings. If these influence then the purity of the information is
adulterated and the predictions made by the scientists will not hold true. Hence the scientific
work should objective and unbiased. Since the human beings are studying the human beings to
what extent they can be unbiased?
7.  Statistical Generalization Statistics is a device for comparing what is observed and what is
logically expected. They are subjecting information to statistical analysis.
8.  Rationalism The collected facts have to be interpreted with arguments. Therefore the scientists
try to employ rigorous rule of logic in their research work.

Any knowledge that is created by applying scientific method is to be called as science. Sociology uses
scientific method for the understanding, identifying the patterns, and predicting the human behavior.
Therefore, sociology is science of human social life.

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