SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: THEORY, ANALYSIS, AND DESIGN
The purpose of this research is to describe the breadth of the conceptual foundations of scientific research. Theory, analysis, and research design, thus, are covered in this description. Additionally, ethical considerations in the conduct of research, and the conduct of scientific research in education are also addressed.
Two basic views of science are the static and the dynamic.1 The static view perceives science as a body of systemized information that includes connected principles, theories, and laws.2 In this view, science is the cumulative results of past investigations, to which contemporary scientists add blocks of information to an existing knowledge base. The dynamic view presents science as a process, and suggests that scientific theories and principles "would soon become a dogma if not subjected to constant investigation and development. In the dynamic view, science is a body of generally accepted rules by which one deals with knowledge; that is, it is the scientific method."3 Through application of the scientific method,
1James B. Conant, Science and Common Sense (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1951), 24 25; Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd ed., enlgd. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970), 10 34.
2C. William Emory, Research Methods, 4th ed. (Homewood, Illinois: Dow Jones/Irwin, 1988), 22.
scientists treating science as a process the dynamic perception of science create scientific revolutions.4
The foundations of the scientific method are (1) concepts, (2) definition, (3) hypotheses, and (4) theory.5 Concepts are basic to all thought and communication. Hypothesis statements are designed through the use of concepts. The success of scientific research "hinges on how clearly we conceptualize and how well others understand the concepts we use."6 A construct is a concept designed specifica...