Scientific knowledge is impossible without a certain conscious and unconscious use of the historically established means of cognition. In our time, when science is becoming a direct productive force, and the scientific and technological revolution is gaining wider scope, the study and development of these means is urgent task epistemology and philosophy of science. The means of scientific knowledge are the language of science, special scientific equipment(devices) and methods through which science discovers and studies its objects.
For the purposes of science, to describe the objects it studies, ordinary, natural language turns out to be insufficient. As is known, ordinary language, having such advantages as universality, expressiveness, high combinatoriality, etc., is not free at the same time from a number of features that prevent its canonical use. These include the ambiguity of words and expressions, the bulkiness and immensity of some turns, the fuzziness of syntactic and semantic rules, the diversity and uncertainty of pragmatics. The language of science, on the other hand, is constructed in such a way as to overcome or minimize some of the above features of natural language.
The language of science can be divided into specialized languages and special formalized languages. Specialized languages the sciences achieve precision (i.e., unambiguity and quantitative certainty) through scientific definitions and the application of mathematics. So, the dictionary of any science (specialized language), including its main terms, can be divided into two unequal parts. The first is a small number of so-called basic "words", with the help of which all other, derived terms are defined. The latter are almost completely unambiguous. For example, in the dictionary of classical kinematics, "path", denoted by the symbol s, and "time" - t, are taken as initial undefined terms. They are enough to build the rest of the terms ("speed", "acceleration", etc.). At the same time, in connection with the requirement of compactness, visibility and elegance of the language of science, newly introduced derivative terms, whenever possible, are defined not through the original, but through the nearest derivative terms (for example, “acceleration” is defined through “speed”, and not through “way " and time"). The terms “equals”, “add”, “divide”, etc., which are widely used in kinematics, physics in general and other sciences, are defined in the dictionary of mathematics and play a kind of auxiliary role in the definitions and statements of special sciences.
The language of mathematics differs from the natural one in that the transition from one expression to another is carried out according to some pre-established and strictly defined rules. Moreover, mathematics (especially its variables) allows you to abstract (abstract) from the subject content of your linguistic expressions and focus on operations, connections and relations of expressions used in mathematics. Mathematics has formal rules for transforming some mathematical expressions into others, but the connections and relationships of mathematical expressions ultimately reflect the connections and relationships of objects and phenomena of objective reality. In terms of language, the transformation of mathematical expressions is based on a general semiotic phenomenon - synonymy, and in the transitivity (transitivity) of mathematical expressions, the continuity of thinking and the continuity of meaning (meaning) are manifested.
In its abstractness and formality of the rules for constructing and transforming expressions formalized languages go beyond mathematics. These specially created artificial languages differ from natural ones not only in the special character of their signs, but also in a very special syntax. When constructing a formalized language, its dictionary, or alphabet, containing characters of a certain kind, is first precisely established. Then the rules for constructing sentences from alphabetic characters that are considered meaningful or correct in the given language are indicated. And, finally, the transformation rules are formulated and listed, allowing one to derive others from some correct sentences. In such a fully formalized language there is no place for linguistic intuition, no obscure, implied rules.
The advantage of formal sign systems is the possibility of carrying out within their framework the study of cognizable objects in a purely formal way (operating with signs) without direct appeal to real objects. However, it should be taken into account that formalized sign systems represent (represent) certain provisions of the theory. Consequently, in the final analysis, such systems (formalisms) do not completely lose their connection with reality, with empiricism. Formalisms must have an empirical interpretation, and not necessarily the only one. The latter circumstance testifies to the heuristic possibilities of formalized systems. And the construction and use of such systems in cognition are called formalization method. It was with the help of the formalization method, with the help of Maxwell's mathematical equations, that such a kind of matter as a field was theoretically discovered (we have already mentioned this).
Modern science, especially natural science, is inconceivable without such material means of cognition as appliances, with the help of which decisive facts are obtained and the truth of scientific theories is proved. Devices enhance the cognitive power of the senses, allow a person to go far beyond his natural capabilities. With the help of instruments, a person began to penetrate into such areas of the world that are inaccessible without them. First of all, it is a micro- and mega-world. So, with the help of automatic interplanetary stations "Mars", "Mariner" and "Phoenix", scientists over the past few decades have learned more about Mars than in the entire previous history of civilization.
With the complication of the cognitive process, scientific instruments become more complex. This is natural and natural. However, it is important that in connection with this, the role of the device in cognition changes significantly, and this, in turn, creates certain epistemological difficulties. Previously, devices did not have a significant effect on either the subject or the object. They were to a certain extent external to the cognitive process. This can be represented by such a scheme (Fig. 6), where
S - subject, O - object, P - device:
At present, devices have become true intermediaries between the subject and the object. They are included in the structure of the cognitive process, influencing the subject and object of knowledge. Accordingly, the scheme (Fig. 7) will look like this:
In connection with essential role device in cognition there is a problem objectivity of knowledge obtained with the instrument. In cases where the effect of the device on the object cannot be neglected, a theory of the interaction between the device and the object is developed. And by calculating the appropriate corrections, they mentally restore the object in the form in which it was before turning on the device. Unfortunately, at present this is feasible only with respect to macroscopic objects. For microscopic objects (elementary particles, individual atoms, etc.), due to the statistical nature of the relationship between theory and experimental data, it is not yet possible to take into account the individual effects of the device on the object. Absolutizing this difficulty, some natural scientists (including such well-known ones as W. Heisenberg and N. Bohr) began to lean towards a special kind of “physical” idealism in interpreting the role of the device in cognition: to “selective” (in the terminology of Eddington), or “ instrumental idealism. Some opponents of materialism even declared the "fundamental uncontrollability" of the impact of the device on micro-objects and that nature (the outside world) is fabricated with the help of the device. In other words, the microworld is created by the will of the observer either as a collection of particles or as a set of waves. It is possible to overcome this form of idealism and obtain a correct philosophical solution to the problem of the relationship between the instrument and the object only on the basis of Firstly, to recognize the objectivity and inexhaustibility of the object of study, and, Secondly, on a deep and comprehensive account of the functions of the device in the experiment.
Devices can indeed create an environment for generating object properties that appear only when it interacts with the device. These are the so-called dispositional properties. Academician V.A. Fock notes that the electron contains the properties of being a particle or a wave not in reality (actually), but only in the possibility. Depending on what type of device is chosen for observation, either one or the other possibility is realized. But these possibilities are objective. They are defined nature, the structural organization of the object. Strictly speaking, there is no sour, sweet, etc. in nature, but there are substances with a certain structural organization, which, when interacting with certain human sense organs, give rise to these properties. It is also undoubted that as our understanding of micro-objects deepens and our technical capabilities expand, more “sensitive” devices will be built, capable of recording the possible properties of objects. And, of course, deeper and more comprehensive theories will be created that take into account specific acts of interaction between the device and the object.
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Samsonov, V.F
From 17 Philosophy: textbook. allowance for universities / V.F. Samsonov. - Chelyabinsk: Chelyab Publishing House. state ped. un-ta, 2010. - 498 p. ISBN 978-5-85716-821-9
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Methodological role of dialectical-materialist philosophy in scientific knowledge
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The main forms of scientific knowledge
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The concept of nature and the relevance of its analysis
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Ecology and education
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Social sphere of public life
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Political life of society
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Spiritual sphere of public life
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The specificity of the philosophical understanding of culture
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The main historical models of culture and modern approaches to its analysis
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The structure of culture. Typology of cultures
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Unity, diversity and inconsistency of culture
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Functions of culture
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The concept of value and the relevance of axiological issues
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A modern approach to the problem of values
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Typology and hierarchy of values. Value systems
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On non-traditional approaches to the problems of the philosophy of history
In the second half of the 20th century, we are faced with an irrational approach to society and its history in the form of so-called postmodernism. This direction is a philosopher
Information for reflection
1. The German philosopher Wilhelm Humboldt wrote: “In order to get closer to historical truth, you need to go along two roads at the same time - thoroughly, impartially, critically study events and, linking
Social progress and its criteria
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Global problems of our time
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Social forecasting and scientific foresight
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Information for reflection
1. "Modern Civilization: Exchange of Values for Conveniences" (E. Lets). Argue the truth of this judgment. 2. Russian poet S.I. Kirsanov wrote: When will you finally understand
The essence and significance of anthropological problems in modern philosophy
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The image of man in the history of philosophical thought
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Basic methodological principles and categories of modern philosophical and anthropological understanding of man
As already noted, this or that understanding of a person is largely determined by the methodological position of the scientist and philosopher. Man, as the most complex phenomenon on Earth, requires an appropriate, adequate
Information for reflection
1. “A person is not able to comprehend himself: he will always remain a mystery, a mystery to himself” (P. Buast). Express your opinion on this matter. 2. “A person cannot
The Dialectic of Human Integrity
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The main aspects of human existence
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Information for reflection
1. The philosopher Erich Fromm remarked: "Character is a substitute for the instincts that a person lacks." Give a philosophical interpretation of this statement. 2. Define a philosophical cat
The relevance of the problem of the meaning of life
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Basic concepts of the meaning of life
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Life strategy and modern humanism
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Information for reflection
1. “Man gives meaning to life” (V. Makushevich). How do you understand this expression? 2. “The meaning of life is experienced to the end sometimes individually, but is understood only by generations in geo
ancient philosophy
The subject of the history of philosophy is the emergence and development of the philosophical thought of mankind from ancient times to the present. This is a story of confrontation with
medieval philosophy
Medieval philosophy refers mainly to the era of feudalism (V-XV centuries AD). This is the time of the domination of religion and the church, in particular the domination of Christianity in Europe. Respectively
Renaissance philosophy
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Russian philosophy
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Information for reflection
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The General Character of Modern Western Philosophy
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The Positivist Tradition: Neopositivism and Analytic Philosophy
Positivism as a philosophical trend originates in the 30s of the XIX century. The focus of positivists has always been the question of the relationship between philosophy and science.
Anthropological-humanistic tendency: existentialism
Existentialism, or the philosophy of existence (from the Latin existentia - existence), arose in the mid-20s of the twentieth century. It has become especially popular in
Philosophical-theological tradition: Neo-Thomism
Neo-Thomism is a modern religious philosophy, the official philosophy of the Vatican. The theoretical foundation of neo-Thomism is the modernized philosophy of the medieval philosopher
Information for reflection
1. "Philosophy is the struggle against the bewitching of our mind by the means of our language." What branch of Western philosophy does this statement belong to? 2. Name
Dictionary of personalities
Abelard Pierre (1079-1142) - French philosopher, theologian and poet, creator of conceptualism. Abramyan Lev Arutyunovich (b. 1928) - arm. philosopher, specialist in the field of
In any philosophical system, of course, the mood of the soul of its creator is reflected. Who is the author of this judgment?
a) V. Vernadsky; b) C. Darwin; c) I. Mechnikov; d) D. Mendeleev; e) A. Chizhevsky. 10. The desired object is an American psychologist and philosopher B.F. Skinner, joking, but not without reason
What method of thinking is foreign in this list of terms?
a) dogmatism; b) dialectics; c) relativism; d) sophistry; e) eclectic. 3. Category expressing the internal source of development: a) harmony; b) denial;
What is the general theory of sign systems called?
a) Morse code b) semantics; c) semiotics; d) synergy; e) syntax. 2. In the 20th century, only one case of the revival of a dead language as a spoken language is known. Determine
What does the expression "confidence without evidence" (A. Amiel) mean?
a) an axiom; b) faith; c) courage; d) intuition; d) confidence. 4. A position that believes that sensory reflection is the only basis for reliable knowledge:
Which term is "extra" in this list (i.e. does not correspond to the basis of other terms)?
a) analogy; b) deduction; c) measurement; d) induction; e) modeling. 2. The general scientific theory of self-organization of systems is: a) automation; b) semiotics; in
Ethics is an unlimited responsibility for everything that lives. Who is the author of these lines?
a) A. Schweitzer; b) M. Scheler; c) L. Shestov; d) M. Schlick; e) A. Schopenhauer. Topic 11. Society as a structural and functional system 1. Spheres of public life in
Which of the philosophers believed that the goals and norms of human behavior determine values?
a) N. Berdyaev; b) M. Weber; c) W. Rostow; d) A. Toynbee; e) O. Spengler. Topic 14. Philosophy of history 1. Religious interpretation of the historical process as a
Which of these philosophers argued that hermeneutics is a method of historical interpretation?
a) L. Wittgenstein; b) W. Dilthey; c) J. Dewey; d) E. Gilson; e) E. Mach. 5. The Roman historian, who is credited with the authorship of the winged words regarding the study of history: “B
What, according to the English writer Joseph Addison, “most significantly elevates one person above another”?
a) wealth; b) arrogance; c) knowledge; d) beauty; e) physical abilities. 5. Maxim Gorky rightly believed: “You need to love what you do, and then work - even with
If you suddenly found the meaning of life, it's time to visit a psychiatrist. Who is the author of these words?
a) A. Ayer; b) A. Adler; c) P. Bayle; d) G. Frege; e) Z. Freud. 5. The highest goal of human aspirations: a) wealth; b) education; c) ideal; d) with
Everything that is real is reasonable, everything that is reasonable is real. Who is the author of these words?
a) G. Hegel; b) P. Holbach; c) I. Fichte; d) F. Nietzsche; e) A. Schweitzer. 5. One of the philosophers wrote: “My whole philosophy can be formulated in one expression: the world is with
Which of the Russian philosophers was the first to start talking about the "soul of Russia"?
a) N. Berdyaev; b) A. Losev; c) N. Fedorov; d) P. Florensky; e) P. Chaadaev. 10. Russian philosopher, whose ideas actively influenced the formation of the worldview of Alexander Blok, A
In the course of the development of science are developed and improved facilities knowledge :
- material,
- mathematical,
- brain teaser,
- language,
- informational.
All means of cognition are specially created means. In this sense, material, informational, mathematical, logical, language tools cognitions have a common property: they are designed, created, developed, substantiated for certain cognitive purposes (Fig. 4.6).
Material resources knowledge is, first of all, instruments for scientific research. In history, the emergence of material means of cognition is associated with the formation empirical methods research - observations, measurements, experiments. These tools are directly aimed at the objects under study, they play the main role in the empirical testing of hypotheses and other results. scientific research, in the discovery of new objects, facts. The use of material means of cognition in science in general - a microscope, a telescope, a synchrophasotron, satellites of the Earth, etc. - has a profound influence on the formation of the conceptual apparatus of the sciences, on the ways of describing the subjects studied, the methods of reasoning and representations, on the generalizations, idealizations and arguments used.
Figure 4.6 - Research tools
Information tools knowledge. The mass introduction of computer technology, information technology, and telecommunications is fundamentally transforming research activities in many branches of science, making them the means of scientific knowledge. In particular, in recent decades, computer technology has been widely used to automate experiments in physics, biology, technical sciences etc., which allows hundreds, thousands of times to simplify research procedures and reduce data processing time. In addition, information tools can significantly simplify the processing of statistical data in almost all branches of science. And the use of satellite navigation systems greatly increases the accuracy of measurements in geodesy, cartography, etc.
Mathematical tools knowledge. The development of mathematical means of cognition has an ever greater influence on the development of modern science; they also penetrate into the humanities and social sciences. Mathematics, being the science of quantitative relations and spatial forms abstracted from their specific content, has developed and applied specific means of abstracting form from content and formulated the rules for considering form as an independent object in the form of numbers, sets, etc., which simplifies, facilitates and accelerates the process of cognition, allows you to more deeply reveal the connection between objects from which the form is abstracted, to isolate the initial positions, to ensure the accuracy and rigor of judgments. Mathematical tools make it possible to consider not only directly abstracted quantitative relations and spatial forms, but also logically possible, that is, those that are deduced from logical rules from previously known relations and forms. Under the influence of mathematical means of cognition, the theoretical apparatus of the descriptive sciences undergoes significant changes. Mathematical tools make it possible to systematize empirical data, identify and formulate quantitative dependencies and patterns. Mathematical tools are also used as special forms of idealization and analogy (mathematical modeling).
logical means knowledge. In any study, the scientist must decide logical tasks :
- what logical requirements should satisfy the reasoning, allowing to make objectively true conclusions; how to control the nature of these reasoning?
– what logical requirements should satisfy the description of empirically observed characteristics?
– how to logically analyze the original systems of scientific knowledge, how to coordinate some knowledge systems with other knowledge systems (for example, in sociology and closely related psychology)?
- how to build a scientific theory that allows you to give scientific explanations, predictions, etc.?
The use of logical means in the process of constructing reasoning and evidence allows the researcher to separate controlled arguments from intuitive or uncritically accepted, false from true, confusion from contradictions.
Language tools knowledge. An important linguistic means of cognition are, among other things, the rules for constructing definitions of concepts (definitions). In any scientific research, the scientist has to clarify the introduced concepts, symbols and signs, to use new concepts and signs. Definitions are always associated with language as a means of cognition and expression of knowledge.
The rules for using languages, both natural and artificial, with the help of which the researcher builds his reasoning and evidence, formulates hypotheses, draws conclusions, etc., are the starting point for cognitive actions. Knowledge of them has a great influence on the effectiveness of the use of linguistic means of cognition in scientific research.
Along with the means of cognition are the methods of scientific cognition (methods of research).
Under research methods the very methods of studying phenomena, obtaining scientific information in order to establish regular connections, relationships, and the construction of scientific theories are understood.
IN research work undergraduate, as a rule, use well-known methods of psychological, pedagogical, sociological and economic research. The choice of research methods depends on the definition of the topic, problem, hypothesis, purpose and objectives of the study. This issue has been adequately covered in the specialized literature. However, it makes sense to briefly describe the main methods.
All research methods can be divided into theoretical, empirical and mathematical (statistical and econometric).
Methods of theoretical research(theoretical methods) are needed to identify problems, formulate hypotheses, and evaluate the facts collected.
Theoretical analysis- this is the selection and consideration of individual aspects, signs, features, properties of phenomena. Analysis manifests itself in the mental division of the whole (phenomenon, property, process or relationship between objects) into its constituent parts, performed in the process of cognition, and allows you to obtain information about the structure of the object of study.
Analysis is accompanied by synthesis and allows you to penetrate into the essence of the issue under study.
Synthesis - the process (usually purposeful) of connecting or combining previously disparate things or concepts into something qualitatively new, whole or representing a set. In addition to analysis, the synthesis method allows you to get an idea of the relationships between the components of the object of study.
inductive method- a method of cognition built on induction, which implies the movement of thought (the process of logical inference) from particular judgments to general ones.
deductive method – a method of constructing scientific theories based on the use of deductive techniques (deduction) - a system of logical inferences from general judgments to a particular conclusion. The beginning (premises) of deduction are axioms, postulates, or simply hypotheses that have the character of general statements, and the end is consequences from premises, theorems, conclusions. If the premises of the deduction are true, then so are its consequences. Deduction is the main means of proof.
Comparison– a method of cognition that underlies judgments about the similarity or difference of objects. Comparison reveals the quality and quantitative characteristics items.
Generalization– a method of cognition leading to the selection and meaning of relatively stable properties of an object. In term papers, they often resort to using this method when generalizing concepts - a logical operation, through which, as a result of the exclusion of a specific feature, a concept of a wider scope, but less content, is obtained.
abstraction – this is a method of cognition, which is a mental selection of the essential properties and connections of an object and a distraction from its other properties and connections, recognized as private, insignificant. This theoretical generalization allows reflecting the main patterns of the objects or phenomena under study, studying them, as well as predicting new, unknown patterns. We can say that abstraction allows you to mentally abstract from the non-essential properties of an object and highlight the essential, basic properties, features, connections.
Specification– filling a schematized cognitive picture of an object with particular features, due to which it is possible to move from one scheme to another, more optimal for solving specific problems.
Systematization– method of unification, reduction of groups of homogeneous units (parameters, criteria) to a certain hierarchical unity for functional purposes based on the links existing between them and / or complementary links with the outside world.
Classification– a method of grouping objects of study or observation in accordance with their common features. As a result of the developed classification, a classified system (classification) is created.
Modeling- the study of any objects on their models(from lat. modis, fr. modele - sample), that is, on conditional images, diagrams or physical structures similar to the object under study, using the methods of analogy and similarity theory when conducting and processing experimental data. Modeling is used when for some reason it is difficult or impossible to study an object in natural conditions, or when it is necessary to facilitate the process of studying an object.
The model reflects the main, from the point of view of the problem being solved, properties of the modeling object in a simpler, reduced form. At the same time, the model reflects the structure, properties, relationships and relationships between the elements of the object under study. The object under study, in relation to which the model is made, is called original, sample, prototype.
In sociological research, modeling is carried out with the help of signs, symbols, drawings (diagrams).
Theoretical methods are associated with the study and analysis of the relevant literature, which makes it possible to find out which problems in the field under study and in what aspects have already been sufficiently studied, on which scientific discussions are ongoing, what is outdated, and what issues have not yet been resolved.
Literature work includes methods such as:
compiling a bibliography a list of sources selected for work in connection with the problem under study;
summarizing - a concise transcription of the main content of one or more works on a general topic;
note-taking- maintaining more detailed records, the basis of which is the selection of the main ideas and provisions of the work;
annotation - a summary of the general content of the book or article;
citation - verbatim record of expressions, whether actual digital data contained in a literary source.
empirical methods – these are research methods based on the description of facts, practical activities, really emerging experience of organizing something (without subsequent conclusions and theoretical generalizations, since these are already theoretical research methods).
Conversation- is carried out according to a predetermined plan with the allocation of questions that need to be clarified, but improvisation is allowed, that is, a slight deviation from the plan, so the conversation is conducted in a free form without recording the answers of the respondents.
Interview(is a kind of conversation) - the researcher adheres to pre-planned and recorded questions asked in a certain sequence, and fixes the answers of the respondents.
Questionnaire- a method of mass collection of material using a questionnaire in which questions are presented to the respondents in writing. When questioning, you can use both questionnaires developed by other authors, and your own, independently developed.
Studying documentation- a research method in which various documentation of an organizational and practical nature, regulatory and instructive-methodical documents are studied. At the same time, generalizations, conclusions are made, attention is drawn to the structure of the document, the main provisions relevant to this study are indicated, etc.
scientific observation– a general scientific method of collecting primary information by direct registration by the researcher of events, phenomena and processes occurring under certain conditions. Obtaining empirical information occurs with the use of human senses, various kinds of scientific instruments and operational means for fixing and quantifying incoming information. Scientific observation is distinguished by the clarity of the goal, systematic, if necessary - the use of instruments. This method also includes the study and generalization of experience.
Experiment- a method of scientific research, with the help of which, in natural or artificially created conditions (controlled and managed), a phenomenon, process is investigated, a new, more effective way to solve a problem is searched. An experiment is a specially organized test of one or another method, the reception of a specialist's work. It involves active intervention in the real system, so its essence is to change the conditions in which the object under study is located, and main function – to test the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of this intervention. At the same time, control and management of all experimental factors is carried out systematically, the effects (positive or negative) of changes in the object must be measured using reasonable qualimetric tools and scientifically interpreted. Let us note the leading difference between experiment and observation. During the experiment, the researcher introduces new factors into the process and observes, fixes and describes the consequences of his intervention, and in the course of observation, the researcher only observes, captures and describes what is happening in reality without any intervention. The experimental method is aimed at studying the cause-and-effect relationships between the objects under study. It contains features that are characteristic of theoretical knowledge: highlighting the side of the object (phenomenon) that interests the researcher, and abstracting from its other sides. In the process of cognition, experiment and theory interact: experiment confirms or refutes a theory that is at the stage of hypothesis, provides material for its development.
The dissertation must:
- imagine experiment program (to develop a research methodology and an experiment plan, methods for collecting and processing the results obtained);
- conduct and describe ascertaining experiment (the current state of the object of study is studied, the real state of affairs is established in order to obtain primary material for further understanding and organizing a formative experiment);
- if necessary, carry out trial (pilot) experiment , allowing you to check individual aspects and readiness for the main (forming, transforming) experiment , during which the hypothesis put forward, its introduced conditions and their influence on the object of study, expediency will be tested;
– conduct, describe and evaluate the main experiment, if necessary, conduct and evaluate the delayed experiment.
The results and description of the main experiment, quantitative and qualitative analysis, interpretation of the obtained facts, formulation of conclusions and practical recommendations are an obligatory element of the dissertation.
Statistical Methods or, in other words, methods of statistical data processing of experimental work, are used to process the data obtained by survey and experiment methods, as well as to establish quantitative relationships between the studied phenomena (see Table 1).
If a new subject of the tourism industry is developed in the master's thesis (for example, a new tourism product), then the effectiveness of its implementation is checked using econometric methods(see Table 2).
Table 1 - Table of statistical methods for summarizing and processing experimental results
| Name scale | Ordinal scale | Interval scale | |
| Methods of primary processing of the results of the experiment | · registration · ranking · frequency · mode | · registration · ranking · frequency · mode · median | Registration Ranking Frequency Mode Median Mean Variance Coefficient of variation |
| Methods for secondary processing of experimental results | association coefficient c² test McNamara test | · Spearman coefficient · Kandel coefficient · c² test · sign test · median test · Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test · Kolmogorov-Smirnov test | linear correlation (according to Pearson) c² test Fisher's test Student's test Wilcoxon test |
Table 2 - Table of econometric methods for summarizing and processing experimental results
Let's give brief description second group mathematical methods- econometric.
Expert review - method of carrying out an intuitive-logical analysis of the problem. It includes: Delphi methods, heuristic methods, "brainstorming", the "collective notebook" method, the synectics method.
Detailing -
Detailing - the breakdown of summary indicators into their constituent factors that influence the formation of the overall magnitude of the process or phenomenon. Produced by time, specific gravity, place. In service and tourism, it allows you to establish the influence of seasonality on the level of costs; create a calculation of the cost of production; other
Accounting - this is documentation, inventory, accounting or financial reporting. Allows you to: conduct continuous monitoring of business processes, for example, fix the time of work; compare values, resources, obligations, etc. with credentials; generalize information about the economic activity of the enterprise.
Quantitative-value expression - digitized volume of demand, supply, prospects for the development of a process or phenomenon.
SWOT analysis - abbreviation for first letters English words: strength, weakness, opportunities, threats. Allows you to conduct a detailed study of the internal and external environment of the enterprise. The signals identified using this method are the basis for the development and adoption of managerial decisions.
Building predictive scenarios - method of successive removal of uncertainty. It is possible to implement only when using intelligent information systems within the framework of neural network technologies. A scenario should be understood as a hypothetical picture of the sequential development of events in space and time. This is some possible assessment of the development of the system, reflected by the trajectory of parameters, states, conditions of its existence. The methodology for constructing forecasts includes two stages: preparatory and scenario. They include: the development of a hypothesis, a systematic description of the forecasting object, the definition of a "tube" of possible trajectories, the development of matrices "situations-factors", calculations according to basic scenarios, the promotion of development alternatives, the execution of the final document.
Graphical reflection of the dynamics of the process under study(bar or line chart, histogram) is an illustration of the results of the study (the point of intersection of supply and demand curves, etc.).
Causal Analysis - a method of removing uncertainty, identifying a symptom of a problem. To solve a problem, it is necessary to eliminate its cause (axiom). The results of identifying and eliminating causes are displayed on the consequences screen. During the implementation of the method, the concepts of "input" into the problem and "output" from it are used.
Guide control - observation from the beginning of practical activity to its end. It includes: measurement, comparison of actual data, goals, plotting.
Filter control - differs from preliminary, guiding and subsequent. It is implemented if there is a deviation of the observed data from those planned by the plan.
Performance measurement - in other words, the effectiveness of any process, the success of its organizers and performers, profitability. Economic efficiency is the ratio of results to costs. Social - the degree of satisfaction of consumer demand for goods or services. In the socio-cultural sphere, the assessment of social efficiency prevails, however, the best way to fully measure the result is the measurement of social and economic, as well as environmental, legal and ethical performance. You can evaluate the effectiveness of the final results of the process. The means of its description should be quantitative and qualitative indicators. Performance measurement criteria: quantity and quality of goods or services; production culture; activity, initiative, ingenuity of the staff.
Functional cost analysis (FSA) - a method of comprehensive study of the functions of an object at all stages of its life cycle, aimed at assessing the minimum costs. A function is an activity, duty, work, appointment, role, external manifestation of the properties of an object. Cost analysis - cost analysis. FSA: analysis of functions, analysis of costs, analysis of the resource for performing functions. The methodological basis of the method is the functional approach as part of the system-functional approach. FSA stages: preparatory, informational, analytical, creative, research, advisory, implementation and control of results. The most effective reflection of FSA results is the FAST chart. The FAST technique allows you to answer the questions: what functions are the object of analysis, what is supposed to be done to implement this function, what affects the function, who performs it, etc.
"Tree" of decisions - a schematic representation of a system of solutions hierarchically ordered within the framework of the base coordinate system. The main structural elements are "branches", "nodes". "Branches" are options for solutions, possible consequences solutions. "Nodes" are places where and when decisions must be made. The method of constructing a coordinate system with logical-temporal or spatial ordering of solutions is used.
Means of scientific research (means of knowledge). In the course of the development of science, means of cognition are developed and improved: material, mathematical, logical, linguistic. In addition, in recent times, it is obviously necessary to add information tools to them as a special class. All means of cognition are specially created means. In this sense, material, informational, mathematical, logical, linguistic means of cognition have a common property: they are designed, created, developed, substantiated for certain cognitive purposes.
Material means of knowledge niya are, first of all, devices for scientific researches. In history, the emergence of material means of cognition is associated with the formation of empirical methods of research - observation, measurement, experiment.
These funds are directly aimed at the objects under study, they play the main role in the empirical testing of hypotheses and other results of scientific research, in the discovery of new objects, facts. The use of material means of cognition in science in general - a microscope, a telescope, a synchrophasotron, satellites of the Earth, etc. - has a profound influence on the formation of the conceptual apparatus of the sciences, on the ways of describing the subjects studied, the methods of reasoning and ideas, on the generalizations, idealizations and arguments used.
Information means of knowledge. The mass introduction of computer technology, information technology, and telecommunications is fundamentally transforming research activities in many branches of science, making them the means of scientific knowledge. In particular, in recent decades, computer technology has been widely used to automate experiments in physics, biology, technical sciences, etc., which allows hundreds, thousands of times to simplify research procedures and reduce data processing time. In addition, information tools can significantly simplify the processing of statistical data in almost all branches of science. And the use of satellite navigation systems greatly increases the accuracy of measurements in geodesy, cartography, etc.
Mathematical means of knowledge. The development of mathematical means of cognition has an ever greater influence on the development of modern science; they also penetrate into the humanities and social sciences. Mathematics, being the science of quantitative relations and spatial forms abstracted from their specific content, has developed and applied specific means of abstracting form from content and formulated the rules for considering form as an independent object in the form of numbers, sets, etc., which simplifies, facilitates and accelerates the process of cognition, allows you to more deeply reveal the connection between objects from which the form is abstracted, to isolate the initial positions, to ensure the accuracy and rigor of judgments. Mathematical tools make it possible to consider not only directly abstracted quantitative relations and spatial forms, but also logically possible ones, that is, those that are deduced according to logical rules from previously known relations and forms. Under the influence of mathematical means of cognition, the theoretical apparatus of the descriptive sciences undergoes significant changes. Mathematical tools make it possible to systematize empirical data, identify and formulate quantitative dependencies and patterns. Mathematical tools are also used as special forms of idealization and analogy (mathematical modeling).
Logical means of knowledge. In any study, the scientist has to solve logical problems:
What logical requirements must satisfy the reasoning, allowing to make objectively true conclusions; how to control the nature of these reasoning?
What logical requirements must satisfy the description of empirically observed characteristics?
How to logically analyze the original systems of scientific knowledge, how to coordinate some knowledge systems with other knowledge systems (for example, in sociology and psychology closely related to it)?
How to build a scientific theory that allows you to give scientific explanations, predictions, etc.?
The use of logical means in the process of constructing reasoning and evidence allows the researcher to separate controlled arguments from intuitive or uncritically accepted, false from true, confusion from contradictions.
Language means of knowledge. An important linguistic means of cognition are, among other things, the rules for constructing definitions of concepts (definitions). In any scientific research, the scientist has to clarify the introduced concepts, symbols and signs, to use new concepts and signs. Definitions are always associated with language as a means of cognition and expression of knowledge. The rules for using languages, both natural and artificial, with the help of which the researcher builds his reasoning and evidence, formulates hypotheses, draws conclusions, etc., are the starting point for cognitive actions. Knowledge of them has a great influence on the effectiveness of the use of linguistic means of cognition in scientific research.
Methods of scientific research. An essential, sometimes decisive role in the construction of any scientific work is played by the applied research methods. Research methods are divided into empirical (empirical - literally - perceived through the senses) and theoretical.
Theoretical methods:
Methods - cognitive actions: identifying and resolving contradictions, posing a problem, building a hypothesis, etc.;
Methods-operations: analysis, synthesis, comparison, abstraction and concretization, etc.
Empirical methods:
Methods - cognitive actions: examination, monitoring, experiment, etc.;
Methods-operations: observation, measurement, interrogation, testing, etc.
Theoretical Methods- operations are defined (considered) according to the main mental operations, which are: analysis and synthesis, comparison, abstraction and concretization, generalization, formalization, induction and deduction, idealization, analogy, modeling, thought experiment.
Analysis- this is the decomposition of the whole under study into parts, the allocation of individual features and qualities of a phenomenon, process or relations of phenomena, processes. Analysis procedures are an integral part of any scientific research and usually form its first phase, when the researcher moves from an undivided description of the object under study to the identification of its structure, composition, properties and features. One and the same phenomenon, process can be analyzed in many aspects. A comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon allows you to consider it deeper.
Synthesis- connection of various elements, sides of an object into a single whole (system). Synthesis is not a simple summation, but a semantic connection. If we simply connect phenomena, no system of connections will arise between them, only a chaotic accumulation of individual facts is formed. Synthesis is opposed to analysis, with which it is inextricably linked. Synthesis as a cognitive operation acts in various functions of theoretical research. Any process of formation of concepts is based on the unity of the processes of analysis and synthesis. Empirical data obtained in a particular study are synthesized during their theoretical generalization. In theoretical scientific knowledge, synthesis acts as a function of the relationship of theories related to the same subject area, as well as a function of combining competing theories (for example, the synthesis of corpuscular and wave representations in physics). Synthesis also plays an important role in empirical research.
Analysis and synthesis are closely related. If the researcher has a more developed ability to analyze, there may be a danger that he will not be able to find a place for details in the phenomenon as a whole. The relative predominance of synthesis leads to superficiality, to the fact that details essential for the study, which may have great importance to understand the phenomenon as a whole.
Comparison is a cognitive operation that underlies judgments about the similarity or difference of objects. With the help of comparison, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of objects are revealed, their classification, ordering and evaluation are carried out. A comparison is a comparison of one with another. Wherein important role grounds play, or signs of comparison, which determine the possible relationship between objects. Comparison makes sense only in a set of homogeneous objects that form a class. Comparison of objects in a particular class is carried out according to the principles essential for this consideration. At the same time, objects that are comparable in one feature may not be comparable in other features. The more accurately the signs are estimated, the more thoroughly the comparison of phenomena is possible. An integral part of comparison is always analysis, since for any comparison in phenomena, it is necessary to isolate the corresponding signs of comparison. Since comparison is the establishment of certain relationships between phenomena, then, naturally, synthesis is also used in the course of comparison.
abstraction- one of the main mental operations that allows you to mentally isolate and turn into an independent object of consideration certain aspects, properties or states of the object in its pure form. Abstraction underlies the processes of generalization and concept formation. Abstraction consists in isolating such properties of an object that do not exist by themselves and independently of it. Such isolation is possible only in the mental plane - in abstraction. So, geometric figure the body itself does not really exist and cannot be separated from the body. But thanks to abstraction, it is mentally singled out, fixed, for example, with the help of a drawing, and independently considered in its special properties. One of the main functions of abstraction is to highlight the common properties of a certain set of objects and fix these properties, for example, through concepts.
Specification- a process opposite to abstraction, that is, finding a holistic, interconnected, multilateral and complex. The researcher initially forms various abstractions, and then, on their basis, through concretization, reproduces this integrity (mental concrete), but at a qualitatively different level of cognition of the concrete. Therefore, dialectics distinguishes in the process of cognition in the coordinates "abstraction - concretization" two processes of ascent: ascent from the concrete to the abstract and then the process of ascent from the abstract to the new concrete (G. Hegel). The dialectic of theoretical thinking consists in the unity of abstraction, the creation of various abstractions and concretization, the movement towards the concrete and its reproduction.
Generalization- one of the main cognitive mental operations, consisting in the selection and fixation of relatively stable, invariant properties of objects and their relationships. Generalization allows you to display the properties and relationships of objects, regardless of the particular and random conditions of their observation. Comparing objects of a certain group from a certain point of view, a person finds, singles out and designates with a word their identical, common properties, which can become the content of the concept of this group, class of objects. Separating general properties from private ones and designating them with a word makes it possible to cover the entire variety of objects in an abbreviated, concise form, reduce them to certain classes, and then, through abstractions, operate with concepts without directly referring to individual objects. One and the same real object can be included in both narrow and wide classes, for which the scales of common features are built according to the principle of genus-species relations. The function of generalization consists in ordering the variety of objects, their classification.
Formalization- displaying the results of thinking in precise terms or statements. It is, as it were, a mental operation of the “second order”. Formalization is opposed to intuitive thinking. In mathematics and formal logic, formalization is understood as the display of meaningful knowledge in a sign form or in a formalized language. Formalization, that is, the abstraction of concepts from their content, ensures the systematization of knowledge, in which its individual elements coordinate with each other. Formalization plays an essential role in the development of scientific knowledge, since intuitive concepts, although they seem clearer from the point of view of everyday consciousness, are of little use for science: in scientific knowledge it is often impossible not only to solve, but even to formulate and pose problems until the structure of the concepts related to them will be clarified. True science is possible only on the basis of abstract thinking, sequential reasoning of the researcher, proceeding in a logical language form through concepts, judgments and conclusions.
In scientific judgments, links are established between objects, phenomena or between their specific features. In scientific conclusions, one judgment proceeds from another; on the basis of already existing conclusions, a new one is made. There are two main types of inference: inductive (induction) and deductive (deduction).
Induction- this is a conclusion from private objects, phenomena to a general conclusion, from individual facts to generalizations.
Deduction- this is a conclusion from the general to the particular, from general judgments to particular conclusions.
Idealization- mental construction of ideas about objects that do not exist or are not feasible in reality, but those for which there are prototypes in the real world. The process of idealization is characterized by abstraction from the properties and relations inherent in the objects of reality and the introduction into the content of the formed concepts of such features that, in principle, cannot belong to their real prototypes. Examples of concepts that are the result of idealization can be the mathematical concepts of "point", "line"; in physics - " material point”, “absolutely black body”, “ideal gas”, etc. Concepts that are the result of idealization are said to be thought of as idealized (or ideal) objects. Having formed concepts of this kind about objects with the help of idealization, one can subsequently operate with them in reasoning as with really existing objects and build abstract schemes of real processes that serve for a deeper understanding of them. In this sense, idealization is closely related to modeling.
Analogy, modeling. Analogy is a mental operation when the knowledge obtained from the consideration of any one object (model) is transferred to another, less studied or less accessible for study, less visual object, called the prototype, the original. It opens up the possibility of transferring information by analogy from model to prototype. This is the essence of one of the special methods of the theoretical level - modeling (building and researching models). The difference between analogy and modeling lies in the fact that if analogy is one of the mental operations, then modeling can be considered in different cases both as a mental operation and as an independent method - a method-action.
Model- an auxiliary object, selected or transformed for cognitive purposes, giving new information about the main object. Modeling forms are diverse and depend on the models used and their scope. By the nature of the models, subject and sign (information) modeling are distinguished. Object modeling is carried out on a model that reproduces certain geometric, physical, dynamic, or functional characteristics of the object of modeling - the original; in a particular case - analog modeling, when the behavior of the original and the model is described by common mathematical relationships, for example, by common differential equations. In sign modeling, diagrams, drawings, formulas, etc. serve as models. The most important type of such modeling is mathematical modeling.
Simulation is always used together with other research methods, it is especially closely related to the experiment. The study of any phenomenon on its model is a special kind of experiment - a model experiment, which differs from a conventional experiment in that in the process of cognition an "intermediate link" is included - a model that is both a means and an object of experimental research replacing the original.
A special kind of modeling is thought experiment. In such an experiment, the researcher mentally creates ideal objects, correlates them with each other within the framework of a certain dynamic model, mentally imitating the movement and those situations that could take place in a real experiment. At the same time, ideal models and objects help to identify “in pure form” the most important, essential connections and relationships, to mentally play out possible situations, to weed out unnecessary options.
Modeling also serves as a way of constructing a new one that did not exist earlier in practice. The researcher, having studied the characteristic features of real processes and their tendencies, looks for new combinations of them on the basis of the leading idea, makes their mental redesign, that is, models the required state of the system under study (just like any person and even an animal, he builds his activity, activity on the basis of initially formed "model of the required future" - according to N.A. Bernshtein). At the same time, models-hypotheses are created that reveal the mechanisms of communication between the components of the studied, which are then tested in practice. In this understanding, modeling has recently become widespread in the social and human sciences - in economics, pedagogy, etc., when by different authors various models of firms, industries, educational systems, etc. are offered.
Along with operations logical thinking theoretical methods-operations can also include (possibly conditionally) imagination as a thought process for creating new ideas and images with its specific forms of fantasy (creation of implausible, paradoxical images and concepts) and dreams (as the creation of images of the desired).
Theoretical methods (methods - cognitive actions). The general philosophical, general scientific method of cognition is dialectics - the real logic of meaningful creative thinking, reflecting the objective dialectics of reality itself. The basis of dialectics as a method of scientific knowledge is the ascent from the abstract to the concrete (G. Hegel) - from general and content-poor forms to dissected and richer content, to a system of concepts that make it possible to comprehend an object in its essential characteristics. In dialectics, all problems acquire a historical character, the study of the development of an object is a strategic platform for cognition. Finally, dialectics is oriented in cognition to the disclosure and methods of resolving contradictions.
The laws of dialectics: the transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones, the unity and struggle of opposites, etc.; analysis of paired dialectical categories: historical and logical, phenomenon and essence, general (universal) and singular, etc. are integral components of any well-structured scientific research.
Scientific theories verified by practice: any such theory, in essence, acts as a method in the construction of new theories in this or even other areas of scientific knowledge, as well as in the function of a method that determines the content and sequence of the researcher's experimental activity. Therefore, the difference between scientific theory as a form of scientific knowledge and as a method of cognition in this case is functional: being formed as a theoretical result of past research, the method acts as a starting point and condition for subsequent research.
Proof - method - theoretical (logical) action, during which the truth of a thought is substantiated with the help of other thoughts. Any proof consists of three parts: the thesis, arguments (arguments) and demonstration. According to the method of conducting evidence, there are direct and indirect, according to the form of inference - inductive and deductive. Evidence Rules:
1. The thesis and arguments must be clear and precise.
2. The thesis must remain identical throughout the proof.
3. The thesis should not contain a logical contradiction.
4. The arguments given in support of the thesis must themselves be true, not subject to doubt, must not contradict each other and be a sufficient basis for this thesis.
5. The proof must be complete.
In the totality of methods of scientific knowledge, an important place belongs to the method of analyzing knowledge systems. Any scientific knowledge system has a certain independence in relation to the reflected subject area. In addition, knowledge in such systems is expressed using a language whose properties affect the relationship of knowledge systems to the objects being studied - for example, if any sufficiently developed psychological, sociological, pedagogical concept is translated into, say, English, German, French- will it be unequivocally perceived and understood in England, Germany and France? Further, the use of language as a carrier of concepts in such systems presupposes one or another logical systematization and logically organized use of linguistic units to express knowledge. And, finally, no system of knowledge exhausts the entire content of the object under study. In it, only a certain, historically concrete part of such content always receives a description and explanation.
The method of analysis of scientific knowledge systems plays an important role in empirical and theoretical research tasks: when choosing an initial theory, a hypothesis for solving a chosen problem; when distinguishing between empirical and theoretical knowledge, semi-empirical and theoretical solutions to a scientific problem; when substantiating the equivalence or priority of the use of certain mathematical tools in various theories related to the same subject area; when studying the possibilities of disseminating previously formulated theories, concepts, principles, etc. to new subject areas; substantiation of new possibilities for the practical application of knowledge systems; when simplifying and clarifying knowledge systems for training, popularization; to harmonize with other knowledge systems, etc.
Deductive method (synonym - axiomatic method) - a method of constructing a scientific theory, in which it is based on some initial provisions of the axiom (synonym - postulates), from which all other provisions of this theory (theorem) are derived in a purely logical way through proof. The construction of a theory based on the axiomatic method is usually called deductive. All concepts of the deductive theory, except for a fixed number of initial ones (such initial concepts in geometry, for example, are: point, line, plane) are introduced by means of definitions expressing them through previously introduced or derived concepts. The classic example of a deductive theory is the geometry of Euclid. deductive method theories are built in mathematics, mathematical logic, theoretical physics;
- the second method has not received a name in the literature, but it certainly exists, since in all other sciences, except for the above, theories are built according to the method, which we will call inductive-deductive: first, an empirical basis is accumulated, on the basis of which theoretical generalizations (induction) are built, which can be built into several levels - for example, empirical laws and theoretical laws - and then these obtained generalizations can be extended to all objects and phenomena covered by this theory (deduction) - see Fig. 6 and Fig. 10. The inductive-deductive method is used to build most of the theories in the sciences of nature, society and man: physics, chemistry, biology, geology, geography, psychology, pedagogy, etc.
Other theoretical research methods (in the sense of methods - cognitive actions): identifying and resolving contradictions, posing a problem, building hypotheses, etc., up to the planning of scientific research, we will consider below in the specifics of the temporal structure of research activity - building phases, stages and stages scientific research.
empirical methods(methods-operations) .
Literature study, documents and results of activities. The issues of working with scientific literature will be considered separately below, since this is not only a research method, but also an obligatory procedural component of any scientific work. A variety of documentation also serves as a source of factual material for research: archival materials in historical research; documentation of enterprises, organizations and institutions in economic, sociological, pedagogical and other research, etc. The study of performance results plays an important role in pedagogy, especially in studying the problems of professional training of pupils and students; in psychology, pedagogy and sociology of labor; and, for example, in archeology, during excavations, an analysis of the results of people's activities: based on the remains of tools, utensils, dwellings, etc., makes it possible to restore their way of life in a particular era.
Observation- in principle, the most informative method of research. This is the only method that allows you to see all aspects of the phenomena and processes under study, accessible to the perception of the observer - both directly and with the help of various instruments.
Depending on the goals that are pursued in the process of observation, the latter can be scientific and non-scientific. Purposeful and organized perception of objects and phenomena of the external world, associated with the solution of a certain scientific problem or task, is commonly called scientific observation. Scientific observations involve obtaining certain information for further theoretical understanding and interpretation, for the approval or refutation of a hypothesis, etc.
Scientific observation consists of the following procedures:
Definition of the purpose of observation (for what, for what purpose?);
Choice of object, process, situation (what to observe?);
Choice of method and frequency of observations (how to observe?);
The choice of methods for registering the observed object, phenomenon (how to record the information received?);
Processing and interpretation of the information received (what is the result?) - see, for example,.
Observed situations are divided into:
natural and artificial;
Controlled and not controlled by the subject of observation;
Spontaneous and organized;
Standard and non-standard;
Normal and extreme, etc.
In addition, depending on the organization of observation, it can be open and hidden, field and laboratory, and depending on the nature of fixation, it can be ascertaining, evaluating and mixed. According to the method of obtaining information, observations are divided into direct and instrumental. According to the scope of the studied objects, continuous and selective observations are distinguished; by frequency - constant, periodic and single. A special case of observation is self-observation, which is widely used, for example, in psychology.
Observation is necessary for scientific knowledge, since without it science would not be able to obtain initial information, would not have scientific facts and empirical data, therefore, the theoretical construction of knowledge would also be impossible.
However, observation as a method of cognition has a number of significant drawbacks. The personal characteristics of the researcher, his interests, and finally, his psychological state can significantly affect the results of observation. The objective results of observation are even more subject to distortion in those cases when the researcher is focused on obtaining a certain result, on confirming his existing hypothesis.
To obtain objective results of observation, it is necessary to comply with the requirements of intersubjectivity, that is, observation data must (and / or can) be obtained and recorded, if possible, by other observers.
Replacing direct observation with instruments indefinitely expands the possibilities of observation, but also does not exclude subjectivity; evaluation and interpretation of such indirect observation is carried out by the subject, and therefore the subjective influence of the researcher can still take place.
Measurement. Measurement is used everywhere, in any human activity. So, almost every person during the day takes measurements dozens of times, looking at the clock. General definition measurement is as follows: Measurement is a cognitive process, which consists in comparing ... a given value with some of its values, taken as a standard of comparison.
In particular, measurement is an empirical method (method-operation) of scientific research.
You can select a specific dimension structure that includes the following elements:
1) a cognizing subject that carries out measurement with certain cognitive goals;
2) measuring instruments, among which there can be both devices and tools designed by man, and objects and processes given by nature;
3) the object of measurement, that is, the measured quantity or property to which the comparison procedure is applicable;
4) method or method of measurement, which is a set of practical actions, operations performed using measuring instruments, and also includes certain logical and computational procedures;
5) the measurement result, which is a named number, expressed using the appropriate names or signs.
The epistemological substantiation of the measurement method is inextricably linked with the scientific understanding of the ratio of qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the object (phenomenon) being studied. Although only quantitative characteristics are recorded using this method, these characteristics are inextricably linked with the qualitative certainty of the object under study. It is thanks to the qualitative certainty that it is possible to single out the quantitative characteristics to be measured. The unity of the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the object under study means both the relative independence of these aspects and their deep interconnection. The relative independence of quantitative characteristics makes it possible to study them during the measurement process, and use the measurement results to analyze the qualitative aspects of the object.
The problem of measurement accuracy also refers to the epistemological foundations of measurement as a method of empirical knowledge. Measurement accuracy depends on the ratio of objective and subjective factors in the measurement process.
These objective factors include:
The possibility of identifying certain stable quantitative characteristics in the object under study, which in many cases of research, in particular, social and humanitarian phenomena and processes, is difficult, and sometimes even impossible;
Capabilities of measuring instruments (degree of their perfection) and conditions in which the measurement process takes place. In some cases, finding the exact value of the quantity is fundamentally impossible. It is impossible, for example, to determine the trajectory of an electron in an atom, etc.
The subjective factors of measurement include the choice of measurement methods, the organization of this process, and a whole range of cognitive capabilities of the subject - from the qualifications of the experimenter to his ability to correctly and competently interpret the results.
Along with direct measurements, the method of indirect measurement is widely used in the process of scientific experimentation. With indirect measurement, the desired value is determined on the basis of direct measurements of other quantities associated with the first functional dependence. According to the measured values of the mass and volume of the body, its density is determined; the resistivity of a conductor can be found from the measured values of resistance, length and cross-sectional area of the conductor, etc. The role of indirect measurements is especially great in cases where direct measurement is impossible under objective reality. For example, the mass of any space object(natural) is determined using mathematical calculations based on the use of measurement data of other physical quantities.
Survey. This empirical method is used only in the social and human sciences. The survey method is divided into oral survey and written survey. Oral survey (conversation, interview). The essence of the method is clear from its name. During the survey, the questioner has personal contact with the respondent, that is, he has the opportunity to see how the respondent reacts to a particular question. The observer can, if necessary, ask various additional questions and thus obtain additional data on some uncovered issues.
Oral surveys give concrete results, and with their help you can get comprehensive answers to complex questions of interest to the researcher. However, the respondents answer the questions of a “delicate” nature in writing much more frankly and at the same time give more detailed and thorough answers.
The respondent spends less time and energy on a verbal response than on a written one. However, this method also has its negative sides. All respondents are in different conditions, some of them can get additional information through leading questions of the researcher; facial expression or any gesture of the researcher has some effect on the respondent.
Questions used for interviews are planned in advance and a questionnaire is drawn up, where space should also be left for recording (recording) the answer.
Basic requirements for writing questions:
1) the survey should not be random, but systematic; at the same time, questions that are more understandable to the respondent are asked earlier, more difficult - later;
2) questions should be concise, specific and understandable for all respondents;
3) questions should not contradict ethical standards.
Survey Rules:
1) during the interview, the researcher should be alone with the respondent, without extraneous witnesses;
2) each oral question is read from the question sheet (questionnaire) verbatim, unchanged;
3) exactly adheres to the order of the questions; the respondent should not see the questionnaire or be able to read the questions following the next one;
4) the interview should be short - from 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the age and intellectual level of the respondents;
5) the interviewer should not influence the respondent in any way (indirectly prompt the answer, shake his head in disapproval, nod his head, etc.);
6) the interviewer can, if necessary, if this answer is unclear, ask additionally only neutral questions (for example: “What did you mean by that?”, “Explain a little more!”).
7) answers are recorded in the questionnaire only during the survey.
The responses are then analyzed and interpreted.
Written survey - questioning. It is based on a pre-designed questionnaire (questionnaire), and the answers of respondents (interviewees) to all positions of the questionnaire constitute the desired empirical information.
The quality of empirical information obtained as a result of a survey depends on such factors as the wording of the questionnaire questions, which should be understandable to the interviewee; qualifications, experience, integrity, psychological features researchers; the situation of the survey, its conditions; the emotional state of the respondents; customs and traditions, ideas, everyday situation; and also - the attitude to the survey. Therefore, when using such information, it is always necessary to make allowances for the inevitability of subjective distortions due to its specific individual “refraction” in the minds of the respondents. And where we are talking about fundamentally important issues, along with the survey, they also turn to other methods - observation, expert assessments, analysis of documents.
Particular attention is paid to the development of a questionnaire - a questionnaire containing a series of questions necessary to obtain information in accordance with the objectives and hypothesis of the study. The questionnaire must meet the following requirements: be reasonable in relation to the purposes of its use, that is, provide the required information; have stable criteria and reliable rating scales that adequately reflect the situation under study; the wording of the questions should be clear to the interviewee and consistent; Questionnaire questions should not cause negative emotions in the respondent (respondent).
Questions can be closed or open-ended. A question is called closed if it contains a complete set of answers in the questionnaire. The respondent only marks the option that coincides with his opinion. This form of the questionnaire significantly reduces the time of filling out and at the same time makes the questionnaire suitable for processing on a computer. But sometimes there is a need to find out directly the opinion of the respondent on a question that excludes pre-prepared answers. In this case, open-ended questions are used. When answering an open question, the respondent is guided only by his own ideas. Therefore, such a response is more individualized.
Compliance with a number of other requirements also contributes to the increase in the reliability of answers. One of them is that the respondent should be provided with the opportunity to evade the answer, to express an uncertain opinion. To do this, the rating scale should provide for answer options: “it is difficult to say”, “I find it difficult to answer”, “it happens in different ways”, “whenever”, etc. But the predominance of such options in the answers is evidence of either the incompetence of the respondent, or the unsuitability of the wording of the question to obtain the necessary information.
In order to obtain reliable information about the phenomenon or process under study, it is not necessary to interview the entire contingent, since the object of study can be numerically very large. In cases where the object of study exceeds several hundred people, a selective survey is used.
Method of expert assessments. In essence, this is a kind of survey associated with the involvement in the assessment of the phenomena under study, the processes of the most competent people, whose opinions, complementing and rechecking each other, make it possible to fairly objectively evaluate the researched. The use of this method requires a number of conditions. First of all, this is a careful selection of experts - people who know the area being assessed, the object under study well and are capable of an objective, unbiased assessment.
The choice of an accurate and convenient system of assessments and appropriate measurement scales is also essential, which streamlines judgments and makes it possible to express them in certain quantities.
It is often necessary to train experts to use the proposed scales for an unambiguous assessment in order to minimize errors and make assessments comparable.
If experts acting independently of each other consistently give identical or similar estimates or express similar opinions, there is reason to believe that they are approaching objective ones. If the estimates differ greatly, then this indicates either an unsuccessful choice of the grading system and measurement scales, or the incompetence of experts.
Varieties of the method of expert assessments are: the method of commissions, the brainstorming method, the Delphi method, the heuristic forecasting method, etc. A number of these methods will be considered in the third chapter of this work.
Testing- an empirical method, a diagnostic procedure consisting in the application of tests (from the English test - task, test). Tests are usually given to the test subjects either in the form of a list of questions requiring short and unambiguous answers, or in the form of tasks, the solution of which does not take much time and also requires unambiguous solutions, or in the form of some short-term practical work of the test subjects, for example, qualifying trial work in a professional education, labor economics, etc. Tests are divided into blank, hardware (for example, on a computer) and practical; for individual and group use.
Similar information.
Means and methods are the most important components of the logical structure of the organization of activities. Therefore, they constitute a major section of methodology as a doctrine of the organization of activities.
It should be noted that there are practically no publications that systematically disclose the means and methods of activity. The material about them is scattered across various sources. Therefore, we decided to consider this issue in sufficient detail and try to build the means and methods of scientific research in a certain system. In addition, the means and most of the methods relate not only to scientific, but also to practical activities, to learning activities etc.
Means of scientific research (means of knowledge). In the course of the development of science are developed and improved means of knowledge: material, mathematical, logical, linguistic. In addition, in recent times, it is obviously necessary to add information tools to them as a special class. All means of cognition are specially created means. In this sense, material, informational, mathematical, logical, linguistic means of cognition have a common property: they are designed, created, developed, substantiated for certain cognitive purposes.
Material resources knowledge is, first of all, instruments for scientific research. In history, the emergence of material means of cognition is associated with the formation of empirical research methods - observation, measurement, experiment.
These funds are directly aimed at the objects under study, they play the main role in the empirical testing of hypotheses and other results of scientific research, in the discovery of new objects, facts. The use of material means of cognition in science in general - a microscope, a telescope, a synchrophasotron, satellites of the Earth, etc. - has a profound influence on the formation of the conceptual apparatus of the sciences, on the ways of describing the subjects studied, the methods of reasoning and representations, on the generalizations, idealizations and arguments used.
Information tools knowledge. The mass introduction of computer technology, information technology, and telecommunications is fundamentally transforming research activities in many branches of science, making them the means of scientific knowledge. In particular, in recent decades, computer technology has been widely used to automate experiments in physics, biology, technical sciences, etc., which allows hundreds, thousands of times to simplify research procedures and reduce data processing time. In addition, information tools can significantly simplify the processing of statistical data in almost all branches of science. And the use of satellite navigation systems greatly increases the accuracy of measurements in geodesy, cartography, etc.
Mathematical tools knowledge. The development of mathematical means of cognition has an ever greater influence on the development of modern science; they also penetrate into the humanities and social sciences.
Maths, being the science of quantitative relations and spatial forms abstracted from their specific content, has developed and applied specific means of abstracting form from content and formulated the rules for considering form as an independent object in the form of numbers, sets, etc., which simplifies, facilitates and speeds up the process of cognition, allows you to more deeply reveal the connection between objects from which the form is abstracted, to isolate the initial positions, to ensure the accuracy and rigor of judgments. Mathematical tools make it possible to consider not only directly abstracted quantitative relations and spatial forms, but also logically possible ones, that is, those that are deduced according to logical rules from previously known relations and forms.
Under the influence of mathematical means of cognition, the theoretical apparatus of the descriptive sciences undergoes significant changes. Mathematical tools make it possible to systematize empirical data, identify and formulate quantitative dependencies and patterns. Mathematical tools are also used as special forms of idealization and analogy (mathematical modeling).
logical means knowledge. In any study, the scientist must decide logical tasks:
- what logical requirements should satisfy the reasoning, allowing to make objectively true conclusions; how to control the nature of these reasoning?
– what logical requirements should satisfy the description of empirically observed characteristics?
– how to logically analyze the original systems of scientific knowledge, how to coordinate some knowledge systems with other knowledge systems (for example, in sociology and closely related psychology)?
- how to build a scientific theory that allows you to give scientific explanations, predictions, etc.?
The use of logical means in the process of constructing reasoning and evidence allows the researcher to separate controlled arguments from intuitive or uncritically accepted, false from true, confusion from contradictions.
Language tools knowledge. An important linguistic means of cognition are, among other things, the rules for constructing definitions of concepts (definitions). In any scientific research, the scientist has to clarify the introduced concepts, symbols and signs, to use new concepts and signs. Definitions are always associated with language as a means of cognition and expression of knowledge.
The rules for using languages, both natural and artificial, with the help of which the researcher builds his reasoning and evidence, formulates hypotheses, draws conclusions, etc., are the starting point for cognitive actions. Knowledge of them has a great influence on the effectiveness of the use of linguistic means of cognition in scientific research.
Along with the means of cognition are the methods of scientific cognition (methods of research).
Methods of scientific research. An essential, sometimes decisive role in the construction of any scientific work is played by the applied research methods.
Research methods are divided into empirical(empirical - literally - perceived through the senses) and theoretical(see Table 3).
Regarding research methods, the following circumstance should be noted. In the literature on epistemology and methodology, there is a kind of double division, a division of scientific methods, in particular, theoretical methods, everywhere. Thus, the dialectical method, theory (when it acts as a method - see below), the identification and resolution of contradictions, the construction of hypotheses, etc. It is customary to call them, without explaining why (at least, the authors of such explanations could not be found in the literature), methods of cognition. And such methods as analysis and synthesis, comparison, abstraction and concretization, etc., that is, the main mental operations, are methods of theoretical research.
A similar division takes place with empirical research methods. So, V.I. Zagvyazinsky divides empirical research methods into two groups:
1. Working, private methods. These include: the study of literature, documents and results of activities; observation; survey(oral and written); peer review method; testing.
2. Complex, general methods, which are based on the use of one or more private methods: survey; monitoring; study and generalization of experience; experimental work; experiment.
Scientific research methods
| THEORETICAL | EMPIRICAL | ||
| operation methods | action methods | operation methods | action methods |
| ¨ analysis ¨ synthesis ¨ comparison ¨ abstraction ¨ concretization ¨ generalization ¨ formalization ¨ induction ¨ deduction ¨ idealization ¨ analogy ¨ modeling ¨ thought experiment ¨ imagination | ¨ dialectics (as a method) ¨ scientific theories verified by practice ¨ proof ¨ method of knowledge systems analysis ¨ deductive (axiomatic) method ¨ inductive-deductive method ¨ identification and resolution of contradictions ¨ problem setting ¨ hypothesis building | ¨ study of literature, documents and results of activities ¨ observation ¨ measurement ¨ survey (oral and written) ¨ peer review ¨ testing | ¨ object tracking methods: survey, monitoring, study and generalization of experience ¨ object transformation methods: experimental work, experiment |
However, the name of these groups of methods is probably not entirely successful, since it is difficult to answer the question: "private" - in relation to what? Similarly, "general" - in relation to what? The distinction, most likely, goes on a different basis.
It is possible to resolve this double division both in relation to theoretical and empirical methods from the standpoint of the structure of activity.
We consider methodology as a doctrine of the organization of activities. Then, if scientific research is a cycle of activity, then its structural units are directed actions. As is known, action- unit of activity distinctive feature which is the presence of a specific goal. The structural units of action are operations correlated with the objective-objective conditions for achieving the goal. The same goal, correlated with action, can be achieved in different conditions; an action can be implemented by different operations. However, the same operation can be included in different actions (A.N. Leontiev).
Based on this, we distinguish (see Table 3):
– methods-operations;
– action methods.
This approach does not contradict the definition method, which gives encyclopedic Dictionary :
- firstly, a method as a way to achieve a goal, solve a specific problem - a method-action;
- secondly, the method as a set of techniques or operations of practical or theoretical development of reality - a method-operation.
Thus, in the future we will consider research methods in the following grouping:
Theoretical methods:
- methods - cognitive actions: identifying and resolving contradictions, posing a problem, building a hypothesis, etc.;
– methods-operations: analysis, synthesis, comparison, abstraction and concretization, etc.
Empirical methods:
- methods - cognitive actions: examination, monitoring, experiment, etc.;
– methods-operations: observation, measurement, questioning, testing, etc.
Theoretical methods (methods-operations). Theoretical methods-operations have a wide field of application, both in scientific research and in practice.
Theoretical methods - operations are determined (considered) according to the main mental operations, which are: analysis and synthesis, comparison, abstraction and concretization, generalization, formalization, induction and deduction, idealization, analogy, modeling, thought experiment.
Analysis- this is the decomposition of the whole under study into parts, the allocation of individual features and qualities of a phenomenon, process or relations of phenomena, processes. Analysis procedures are an integral part of any scientific research and usually form its first phase, when the researcher moves from an undivided description of the object under study to the identification of its structure, composition, properties and features.
One and the same phenomenon, process can be analyzed in many aspects. A comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon allows you to consider it deeper.
Synthesis- the connection of various elements, sides of the subject into a single whole (system). Synthesis is not a simple summation, but a semantic connection. If we simply connect phenomena, no system of connections will arise between them, only a chaotic accumulation of individual facts is formed. Synthesis is opposed to analysis, with which it is inextricably linked. Synthesis as a cognitive operation acts in various functions of theoretical research. Any process of formation of concepts is based on the unity of the processes of analysis and synthesis. Empirical data obtained in a particular study are synthesized during their theoretical generalization. In theoretical scientific knowledge, synthesis acts as a function of the relationship of theories related to the same subject area, as well as a function of combining competing theories (for example, the synthesis of corpuscular and wave representations in physics).
Synthesis also plays an important role in empirical research.
Analysis and synthesis are closely related. If the researcher has a more developed ability to analyze, there may be a danger that he will not be able to find a place for details in the phenomenon as a whole. The relative predominance of synthesis leads to superficiality, to the fact that details essential for the study, which can be of great importance for understanding the phenomenon as a whole, will not be noticed.
Comparison is a cognitive operation that underlies judgments about the similarity or difference of objects. With the help of comparison, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of objects are revealed, their classification, ordering and evaluation are carried out. Comparison is comparing one thing with another. In this case, an important role is played by the bases, or signs of comparison, which determine the possible relationships between objects.
Comparison makes sense only in a set of homogeneous objects that form a class. Comparison of objects in a particular class is carried out according to the principles essential for this consideration. At the same time, objects that are comparable in one feature may not be comparable in other features. The more accurately the signs are estimated, the more thoroughly the comparison of phenomena is possible. An integral part of comparison is always analysis, since for any comparison in phenomena, it is necessary to isolate the corresponding signs of comparison. Since comparison is the establishment of certain relationships between phenomena, then, naturally, synthesis is also used in the course of comparison.
abstraction- one of the main mental operations that allows you to mentally isolate and turn into an independent object of consideration certain aspects, properties or states of the object in its purest form. Abstraction underlies the processes of generalization and concept formation.
Abstraction consists in isolating such properties of an object that do not exist by themselves and independently of it. Such isolation is possible only in the mental plane - in abstraction. Thus, the geometric figure of the body does not really exist by itself and cannot be separated from the body. But thanks to abstraction, it is mentally singled out, fixed, for example, with the help of a drawing, and independently considered in its special properties.
One of the main functions of abstraction is to highlight the common properties of a certain set of objects and fix these properties, for example, through concepts.
Specification- a process opposite to abstraction, that is, finding a holistic, interconnected, multilateral and complex. The researcher initially forms various abstractions, and then, on their basis, through concretization, reproduces this integrity (mental concrete), but at a qualitatively different level of cognition of the concrete. That's why dialectics distinguishes in the process of cognition in the coordinates "abstraction - concretization" two processes of ascent: ascent from the concrete to the abstract and then the process of ascent from the abstract to the new concrete (G. Hegel). The dialectic of theoretical thinking consists in the unity of abstraction, the creation of various abstractions and concretization, the movement towards the concrete and its reproduction.
Generalization- one of the main cognitive mental operations, consisting in the selection and fixation of relatively stable, invariant properties of objects and their relationships. Generalization allows you to display the properties and relationships of objects, regardless of the particular and random conditions of their observation. Comparing objects of a certain group from a certain point of view, a person finds, singles out and designates with a word their identical, common properties, which can become the content of the concept of this group, class of objects. Separating general properties from private ones and designating them with a word makes it possible to cover the entire variety of objects in an abbreviated, concise form, reduce them to certain classes, and then, through abstractions, operate with concepts without directly referring to individual objects. One and the same real object can be included in both narrow and wide classes, for which the scales of common features are built according to the principle of genus-species relations. The function of generalization consists in ordering the variety of objects, their classification.
Formalization- displaying the results of thinking in precise terms or statements. It is, as it were, a mental operation of the “second order”. Formalization is opposed to intuitive thinking. In mathematics and formal logic, formalization is understood as the display of meaningful knowledge in a sign form or in a formalized language. Formalization, that is, the abstraction of concepts from their content, ensures the systematization of knowledge, in which its individual elements coordinate with each other. Formalization plays an essential role in the development of scientific knowledge, since intuitive concepts, although they seem clearer from the point of view of everyday consciousness, are of little use for science: in scientific knowledge it is often impossible not only to solve, but even to formulate and pose problems until the structure of the concepts related to them will be clarified. True science is possible only on the basis of abstract thinking, consistent reasoning of the researcher, flowing in a logical language form through concepts, judgments and conclusions.
In scientific judgments, links are established between objects, phenomena or between their specific features. In scientific conclusions, one judgment proceeds from another; on the basis of already existing conclusions, a new one is made. There are two main types of inference: inductive (induction) and deductive (deduction).
Induction- this is a conclusion from particular objects, phenomena to a general conclusion, from individual facts to generalizations.
Deduction- this is a conclusion from the general to the particular, from general judgments to particular conclusions.
Idealization- mental construction of ideas about objects that do not exist or are not feasible in reality, but those for which there are prototypes in the real world. The process of idealization is characterized by abstraction from the properties and relations inherent in the objects of reality and the introduction into the content of the formed concepts of such features that, in principle, cannot belong to their real prototypes. Examples of concepts that are the result of idealization can be the mathematical concepts of "point", "line"; in physics - "material point", "absolutely black body", "ideal gas", etc.
Concepts that are the result of idealization are said to be thought of as idealized (or ideal) objects. Having formed concepts of this kind about objects with the help of idealization, one can subsequently operate with them in reasoning as with really existing objects and build abstract schemes of real processes that serve for a deeper understanding of them. In this sense, idealization is closely related to modeling.
Analogy,modeling. Analogy is a mental operation when the knowledge obtained from the consideration of any one object (model) is transferred to another, less studied or less accessible for study, less visual object, called the prototype, the original. It opens up the possibility of transferring information by analogy from model to prototype. This is the essence of one of the special methods of the theoretical level - modeling (building and researching models). The difference between analogy and modeling lies in the fact that if analogy is one of the mental operations, then modeling can be considered in different cases both as a mental operation and as an independent method - a method-action.
Model- an auxiliary object, selected or transformed for cognitive purposes, giving new information about the main object. Modeling forms are diverse and depend on the models used and their scope. By the nature of the models, subject and sign (information) modeling are distinguished.
Object Modeling conducted on a model that reproduces certain geometric, physical, dynamic, or functional characteristics of the modeling object - the original; in a particular case - analog modeling, when the behavior of the original and the model is described by common mathematical relationships, for example, by common differential equations. At iconic modeling models are diagrams, drawings, formulas, etc. The most important type of such modeling is mathematical modeling(see more details below).
Simulation is always used together with other research methods, it is especially closely related to the experiment. The study of any phenomenon on its model is a special kind of experiment - model experiment, which differs from the usual experiment in that in the process of cognition an “intermediate link” is included - a model that is both a means and an object of experimental research that replaces the original.
A special kind of modeling is thought experiment. In such an experiment, the researcher mentally creates ideal objects, correlates them with each other within the framework of a certain dynamic model, mentally imitating the movement and those situations that could take place in a real experiment. At the same time, ideal models and objects help to identify “in pure form” the most important, essential connections and relationships, to mentally play out possible situations, to weed out unnecessary options.
Modeling also serves as a way of constructing a new one that did not exist earlier in practice. The researcher, having studied the characteristic features of real processes and their tendencies, looks for new combinations of them on the basis of the leading idea, makes their mental redesign, that is, models the required state of the system under study (just like any person and even an animal, he builds his activity, activity on the basis of the formed originally "models of the required future" - according to N.A. Bernshtein). At the same time, models-hypotheses are created that reveal the mechanisms of communication between the components of the studied, which are then tested in practice. In this understanding, modeling has recently become widespread in the social and human sciences - in economics, pedagogy, etc., when different authors offer different models of firms, industries, educational systems, etc.
Along with the operations of logical thinking, theoretical methods-operations can also include (possibly conditionally) imagination as a thought process to create new ideas and images with its specific forms of fantasy (creation of implausible, paradoxical images and concepts) and dreams(as the creation of images of the desired).
Theoretical methods (methods - cognitive actions). The general philosophical, general scientific method of cognition is dialectics- the real logic of meaningful creative thinking, reflecting the objective dialectic of reality itself. The basis of dialectics as a method of scientific knowledge is the ascent from the abstract to the concrete (G. Hegel) - from general and content-poor forms to dissected and richer content, to a system of concepts that allow one to comprehend an object in its essential characteristics. In dialectics, all problems acquire a historical character, the study of the development of an object is a strategic platform for cognition. Finally, dialectics is oriented in cognition to the disclosure and methods of resolving contradictions.
Laws of dialectics: the transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones, the unity and struggle of opposites, etc.; analysis of paired dialectical categories: historical and logical, phenomenon and essence, general (universal) and singular, etc. are integral components of any well-structured scientific research.
scientific theories,proven by practice: any such theory, in essence, acts as a method in the construction of new theories in this or even other areas of scientific knowledge, as well as in the function of a method that determines the content and sequence of the researcher's experimental activity. Therefore, the difference between scientific theory as a form of scientific knowledge and as a method of cognition in this case is functional: being formed as a theoretical result of past research, the method acts as a starting point and condition for subsequent research.
Proof- method - a theoretical (logical) action, during which the truth of a thought is substantiated with the help of other thoughts. Any proof consists of three parts: the thesis, arguments (arguments) and demonstration. According to the method of conducting evidence, there are direct and indirect, according to the form of inference - inductive and deductive. Evidence Rules:
1. The thesis and arguments must be clear and precise.
2. The thesis must remain identical throughout the proof.
3. The thesis should not contain a logical contradiction.
4. The arguments given in support of the thesis must themselves be true, not subject to doubt, must not contradict each other and be a sufficient basis for this thesis.
5. The proof must be complete.
In the totality of methods of scientific knowledge, an important place belongs to knowledge systems analysis method(see, for example,). Any scientific knowledge system has a certain independence in relation to the reflected subject area. In addition, knowledge in such systems is expressed using a language whose properties affect the relationship of knowledge systems to the objects being studied - for example, if any sufficiently developed psychological, sociological, pedagogical concept is translated into, say, English, German, French - Will it be unequivocally perceived and understood in England, Germany and France? Further, the use of language as a carrier of concepts in such systems presupposes one or another logical systematization and logically organized use of linguistic units to express knowledge. And, finally, no system of knowledge exhausts the entire content of the object under study. In it, only a certain, historically concrete part of such content always receives a description and explanation.
The method of analysis of scientific knowledge systems plays an important role in empirical and theoretical research tasks: when choosing an initial theory, a hypothesis for solving a chosen problem; when distinguishing between empirical and theoretical knowledge, semi-empirical and theoretical solutions to a scientific problem; when substantiating the equivalence or priority of the use of certain mathematical tools in various theories related to the same subject area; when studying the possibilities of disseminating previously formulated theories, concepts, principles, etc. to new subject areas; substantiation of new possibilities for the practical application of knowledge systems; when simplifying and clarifying knowledge systems for training, popularization; to harmonize with other knowledge systems, etc.
– deductive method(synonym - axiomatic method) - a method of constructing a scientific theory, in which it is based on some initial provisions axioms(synonym - postulates), of which all other provisions of this theory ( theorems) are deduced in a purely logical way by means of a proof. The construction of a theory based on the axiomatic method is usually called deductive. All concepts of the deductive theory, except for a fixed number of initial ones (such initial concepts in geometry, for example, are: point, line, plane) are introduced by means of definitions expressing them through previously introduced or derived concepts. The classic example of a deductive theory is the geometry of Euclid. Theories are built by the deductive method in mathematics, mathematical logic, theoretical physics;
- the second method has not received a name in the literature, but it certainly exists, since in all other sciences, except for the above, theories are built according to the method, which we will call inductive-deductive: first, an empirical basis is accumulated, on the basis of which theoretical generalizations (induction) are built, which can be built into several levels - for example, empirical laws and theoretical laws - and then these generalizations obtained can be extended to all objects and phenomena covered by this theory (deduction ) – see Fig. 6 and Fig. 10. The inductive-deductive method is used to construct most of the theories in the sciences of nature, society and man: physics, chemistry, biology, geology, geography, psychology, pedagogy, etc.
Other theoretical research methods (in the sense of methods - cognitive actions): identifying and resolving contradictions, posing a problem, building hypotheses, etc. up to the planning of scientific research, we will consider below in the specifics of the time structure of research activity - the construction of phases, stages and stages of scientific research.
Empirical methods (methods-operations).
Literature study,documents and results of activities. The issues of working with scientific literature will be considered separately below, since this is not only a research method, but also an obligatory procedural component of any scientific work.
A variety of documentation also serves as a source of factual material for research: archival materials in historical research; documentation of enterprises, organizations and institutions in economic, sociological, pedagogical and other studies, etc. Performance learning plays an important role in pedagogy, especially when studying the problems of professional training of pupils and students; in psychology, pedagogy and sociology of labor; and, for example, in archeology, during excavations, an analysis of the results of people's activities: according to the remains of tools, utensils, dwellings, etc. allows you to restore their way of life in a particular era.
Observation- in principle, the most informative method of research. This is the only method that allows you to see all aspects of the phenomena and processes under study, accessible to the perception of the observer - both directly and with the help of various instruments.
Depending on the goals that are pursued in the process of observation, the latter can be scientific and non-scientific. Purposeful and organized perception of objects and phenomena of the external world, associated with the solution of a certain scientific problem or task, is commonly called scientific observation. Scientific observations involve obtaining certain information for further theoretical understanding and interpretation, for the approval or refutation of a hypothesis, etc.
Scientific observation consists of the following procedures:
Definition of the purpose of observation (for what, for what purpose?);
Choice of object, process, situation (what to observe?);
Choice of method and frequency of observations (how to observe?);
The choice of methods for registering the observed object, phenomenon (how to record the information received?);
Processing and interpretation of the information received (what is the result?) - see, for example,.
Observed situations are divided into:
natural and artificial;
Controlled and not controlled by the subject of observation;
Spontaneous and organized;
Standard and non-standard;
Normal and extreme, etc.
In addition, depending on the organization of observation, it can be open and hidden, field and laboratory, and depending on the nature of fixation, it can be ascertaining, evaluating and mixed. According to the method of obtaining information, observations are divided into direct and instrumental. According to the scope of the studied objects, continuous and selective observations are distinguished; by frequency - constant, periodic and single. A special case of observation is self-observation, which is widely used, for example, in psychology.
Observation is necessary for scientific knowledge, since without it science would not be able to obtain initial information, would not have scientific facts and empirical data, therefore, the theoretical construction of knowledge would also be impossible.
However, observation as a method of cognition has a number of significant drawbacks. The personal characteristics of the researcher, his interests, and finally, his psychological state can significantly affect the results of observation. The objective results of observation are even more subject to distortion in those cases when the researcher is focused on obtaining a certain result, on confirming his existing hypothesis.
To obtain objective results of observation, it is necessary to comply with the requirements intersubjectivity, that is, the observational data should (and/or can) be obtained and recorded, if possible, by other observers.
Replacing direct observation with instruments indefinitely expands the possibilities of observation, but also does not exclude subjectivity; evaluation and interpretation of such indirect observation is carried out by the subject, and therefore the subjective influence of the researcher can still take place.
Observation is most often accompanied by another empirical method - measurement
Measurement. Measurement is used everywhere, in any human activity. So, almost every person during the day takes measurements dozens of times, looking at the clock. The general definition of measurement is as follows: “Measurement is a cognitive process that consists in comparing ... a given quantity with some of its values, taken as a comparison standard” (see, for example,).
In particular, measurement is an empirical method (method-operation) of scientific research.
You can select a specific dimension structure that includes the following elements:
1) knowing subject, carrying out the measurement with certain cognitive goals;
2) measuring, among which there can be both devices and tools designed by man, and objects and processes given by nature;
3) measurement object, that is, measured magnitude or property to which the comparison procedure is applicable;
4) adapted measurement method, which is a set of practical actions, operations performed using measuring instruments, and also includes certain logical and computational procedures;
5) measurement result, which is a named number expressed using the corresponding names or signs.
The epistemological substantiation of the measurement method is inextricably linked with the scientific understanding of the ratio of qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the object (phenomenon) being studied. Although only quantitative characteristics are recorded using this method, these characteristics are inextricably linked with
Topic 5 Methodology of theoretical research
Methods , methods and strategies for researching the subject.
Structure of the methodology
Methodology can be considered in two sections: both theoretical, and it is formed by the section of philosophical knowledge epistemology, and practical, focused on solving practical problems and purposeful transformation of the world. The theoretical one strives for a model of ideal knowledge (under the conditions specified by the description, for example, the speed of light in a vacuum), while the practical one is a program (algorithm), a set of techniques and methods of how to achieve the desired practical goal and not sin against the truth, or what we consider true knowledge. The quality (success, efficiency) of the method is tested by practice, by solving scientific and practical problems - that is, by searching for principles for achieving the goal, implemented in a complex of real cases and circumstances.
The methodology has the following structure:
Foundations of the methodology: philosophy, logic, systemology, psychology, computer science, system analysis, science of science, ethics, aesthetics;
Characteristics of activity: features, principles, conditions, norms of activity;
The logical structure of activity: subject, object, subject, forms, means, methods, result of activity, problem solving;
Time structure of activity: phases, stages, stages.
Technology for performing work and solving problems: means, methods, methods, techniques.
The methodology is also divided into substantive and formal. Content methodology includes the study of laws, theories, the structure of scientific knowledge, the criteria for scientific character and the system of research methods used. Formal methodology is associated with the analysis of research methods from the point of view of the logical structure and formalized approaches to the construction of theoretical knowledge, its truth and argumentation.
Methods in science are called methods, techniques for studying the phenomena that make up the subject of this science. The use of these techniques should lead to a correct knowledge of the phenomena being studied, i.e., to an adequate (corresponding to reality) reflection in the human mind of their inherent features and patterns.
The research methods used in science cannot be arbitrary, chosen without sufficient grounds, just at the whim of the researcher. True knowledge is achieved only when the methods used in science are built in accordance with the objectively existing laws of nature and social life, which have found expression in the philosophy of dialectical and historical materialism.
When constructing scientific research methods, it is necessary first of all to rely on the following of these laws:
a) all phenomena of the reality surrounding us are in mutual connection and conditionality. These phenomena do not exist in isolation from each other, but always in an organic connection, therefore, the correct methods of scientific research should investigate the studied phenomena in their mutual connection, and not metaphysically, as if they exist, allegedly separated from each other;
b) all the phenomena of the reality around us are always in the process of development, change, therefore, the correct methods should investigate the studied phenomena in their development, and not as something stable, frozen in its immobility.
At the same time, scientific research methods should proceed from a correct understanding of the development process itself: 1) as consisting not only in quantitative, but, most importantly, in qualitative changes, 2) as having as its source the struggle of opposites inherent in the phenomenon of contradictions. The study of phenomena outside the process of their development is also one of the essential mistakes of the metaphysical approach to the cognition of reality.
The logical structure includes the following components: subject, object, object, forms, means, methods of activity, its result.
Gnoseology is a theory of scientific knowledge (synonymous with epistemology), one of the constituent parts of philosophy. In general, epistemology studies the patterns and possibilities of cognition, explores the stages, forms, methods and means of the process of cognition, conditions and criteria for the truth of scientific knowledge.
The methodology of science as the doctrine of the organization of research activities is that part of epistemology that studies the process scientific activity(his organization).
Classifications of scientific knowledge.
Scientific knowledge is classified according to different bases:
- according to groups of subject areas, knowledge is divided into mathematical, natural, humanitarian and technical;
- according to the way of reflecting the essence of knowledge, they are classified into phenomenal (descriptive) and essentialist (explanatory). Phenomenalistic knowledge is a qualitative theory endowed with predominantly descriptive functions (many branches of biology, geography, psychology, pedagogy, etc.). In contrast, essentialist knowledge are explanatory theories, built, as a rule, using quantitative means of analysis;
- in relation to the activities of certain subjects of knowledge are divided into descriptive (descriptive) and prescriptive, normative - containing instructions, direct instructions for activity. We stipulate that the material contained in this subsection from the field of science of science, including epistemology, is descriptive in nature, but, firstly, it is necessary as a guide for any researcher; secondly, it is, in a certain sense, the basis for further presentation of the prescriptive basis of the methodology of science of normative material related directly to the methodology of scientific activity;
- according to the functional purpose, scientific knowledge is classified into fundamental, applied and development;
Empirical knowledge is the established facts of science and empirical patterns and laws formulated on the basis of their generalization. Accordingly, empirical research is directed directly at the object and is based on empirical, experimental data.
Empirical knowledge, being an absolutely necessary stage of cognition, since all our knowledge ultimately arises from experience, is still not enough to cognize the deep internal laws of the emergence and development of a cognizable object.
Theoretical knowledge is the formulated regularities for a given subject area that allow explaining previously discovered facts and empirical regularities, as well as predicting and foreseeing future events and facts.
Theoretical knowledge transforms the results obtained at the stage of empirical knowledge into deeper generalizations, revealing the essence of the phenomena of the first, second, etc. orders, patterns of occurrence, development and change of the object under study.
Both types of research - empirical and theoretical - are organically interconnected and determine the development of each other in the integral structure of scientific knowledge. Empirical research, revealing new facts of science, stimulates the development of theoretical research, sets new tasks for them. On the other hand, theoretical research, by developing and concretizing new perspectives for explaining and foreseeing facts, orients and directs empirical research.
Semiotics is a science that studies the laws of construction and functioning of sign systems. Semiotics is naturally one of the foundations of methodology, since human activity, human communication makes it necessary to develop numerous systems of signs with the help of which people could transmit various information to each other and thereby organize their activities.
In order for the content of a message that one person can convey to another, passing on the knowledge he has acquired about the subject or the attitude he has developed towards the subject, to be understood by the recipient, such a method of transmission is needed that would allow the recipient to reveal the meaning of this message. And this is possible if the message is expressed in signs that carry the meaning entrusted to them, and if the transmitting information and receiving it equally understand the relationship between the meaning and the sign.
Since communication between people is unusually rich and versatile, humanity needs a lot of sign systems, which is explained by:
- features of the transmitted information, which make one prefer one language, then another. For example, the difference between a scientific language and a natural one, the difference between the languages of art and scientific languages, etc.
- features of the communicative situation that make it more convenient to use a particular language. For example, the use of natural language and sign language in private conversation; natural and mathematical - at a lecture, for example, in physics; the language of graphic symbols and light signals - when regulating traffic, etc.;
- the historical development of culture, which is characterized by a consistent expansion of the possibilities of communication between people. Up to today's gigantic possibilities of mass communication systems based on printing, radio and television, computers, telecommunications networks, etc.
The issues of applying semiotics in methodology, as well as in all science, and in practice, frankly, have not been studied enough. And there are many problems here. For example, the vast majority of researchers in the field of social sciences, humanities do not use mathematical modeling methods, even when it is possible and appropriate, simply because they do not know the language of mathematics at the level of its professional use. Or another example - today many studies are carried out "at the junction" of sciences. For example, pedagogy and technology. And here confusion often arises due to the fact that the researcher uses both professional languages "mixed". But the subject of any scientific research, say, a dissertation, can lie in only one subject area, one science. And, accordingly, one language should be the main, end-to-end, and the other - only auxiliary.
Norms of scientific ethics.
A separate issue that needs to be addressed is the issue of scientific ethics. The norms of scientific ethics are not formulated in the form of any approved codes, official requirements, etc. However, they exist and can be considered in two aspects - as internal (in the community of scientists) ethical norms and as external - as the social responsibility of scientists for their actions and their consequences.
The ethical standards of the scientific community, in particular, were described by R. Merton back in 1942 as a set of four basic values:
– universalism: the truth of scientific statements should be evaluated regardless of race, gender, age, authority, ranks of those who formulate them. Thus, science is inherently democratic: the results of a prominent, well-known scientist must be subjected to no less rigorous testing and criticism than the results of a novice researcher;
– commonality: scientific knowledge should freely become common property;
– disinterest, impartiality: the scientist must seek the truth disinterestedly. Reward and recognition should be considered only as a possible consequence scientific achievements and not as an end in itself. At the same time, there is both scientific “competition”, which consists in the desire of scientists to get a scientific result faster than others, and competition between individual scientists and their teams for grants, government orders, etc.
– rational skepticism: each researcher is responsible for assessing the quality of what his colleagues have done, he is not released from responsibility for using data obtained by other researchers in his work, if he himself has not verified the accuracy of these data. That is, in science it is necessary, on the one hand, to respect what the predecessors did; on the other hand, a skeptical attitude towards their results: “Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer” (Aristotle’s saying).
Features of individual scientific activity:
1. A researcher must clearly limit the scope of his activities and determine the goals of his scientific work.
In science, as in any other area of professional activity, there is a natural division of labor. A scientific worker cannot be engaged in “science in general”, but must single out a clear direction of work, set a specific goal and consistently go towards its achievement. We will talk about research design below, but here it should be noted that the property of any scientific work is that the researcher constantly “comes across” the most interesting phenomena and facts, which in themselves are of great value and which I want to study in more detail. But the researcher runs the risk of being distracted from the core channel of his scientific work, to study these phenomena and facts that are secondary to his research, behind which new phenomena and facts will be discovered, and this will continue without end. The work thus "blurs". As a result, no results will be achieved. This is a typical mistake most novice researchers make and should be warned about. One of the main qualities of a scientific worker is the ability to focus only on the problem that he is dealing with, and use all the other “side” ones only to the extent and at the level that they are described in contemporary scientific literature.
2. Scientific work is built "on the shoulders of predecessors."
Before embarking on any scientific work on any problem, it is necessary to study in the scientific literature what was done in this area by predecessors.
3. A scientist must master scientific terminology and strictly build his own conceptual apparatus.
The point is not only to write in a complex language, as many novice scientists often mistakenly believe: that the more complicated and incomprehensible, the supposedly more scientific. The virtue of a true scientist is that he writes and speaks about the most complex things in simple language. The case is different. The researcher must draw a clear line between ordinary and scientific language. And the difference lies in the fact that there are no special requirements for the accuracy of the terminology used in ordinary colloquial language. However, as soon as we start talking about these same concepts in the scientific language, questions immediately arise: “In what sense is such and such a concept, such and such a concept, etc. used? In each specific case, the researcher must answer the question: "In what sense does he use this or that concept."
In every science there is a phenomenon parallel existence various scientific schools. Each scientific school builds its own conceptual apparatus. Therefore, if a novice researcher takes, for example, one term in the understanding, interpretation of one scientific school, another - in the understanding of another school, the third - in the understanding of the third scientific school, etc., then there will be complete inconsistency in the use of concepts, and no new system The researcher will thus not create scientific knowledge, because no matter what he says or writes, he will not go beyond the scope of ordinary (everyday) knowledge.
4. The result of any scientific work, any research must be necessarily issued in a "written" form (printed or electronic) and published - in the form of a scientific report, scientific report, abstract, article, book, etc.
This requirement is due to two circumstances. First, it is only in writing that one can express one's ideas and results in a strictly scientific language. In oral speech, this almost never happens. Moreover, writing any scientific work, even the smallest article, is very difficult for a novice researcher, because what is easily spoken in public speeches or mentally said “to oneself” turns out to be “unwritten”. Here is the same difference as between ordinary, worldly and scientific languages. In oral speech, we ourselves and our listeners do not notice logical flaws. A written text requires a strict logical presentation, and this is much more difficult to do. Secondly, the goal of any scientific work is to obtain and bring to people new scientific knowledge. And if this “new scientific knowledge” remains only in the head of the researcher, no one can read about it, then this knowledge will, in fact, disappear. In addition, the number and volume of scientific publications are an indicator, although formal, of the productivity of any scientific worker. And each researcher constantly maintains and replenishes the list of his published works.
Features of collective scientific activity:
1. Pluralism of scientific opinion.
Since any scientific work is a creative process, it is very important that this process is not "regulated". Naturally, the scientific work of each research team can and should be planned quite strictly. But at the same time, each researcher, if he is literate enough, has the right to his point of view, his opinion, which should, of course, be respected. Any attempts to dictate, to impose on everyone a common single point of view, never led to a positive result. Let us recall, for example, at least the sad story with T.D. Lysenko, when domestic biology was thrown back decades.
There is even the term "Lysenkovshchina" - a political campaign to persecute and defame a group of geneticists, deny genetics and temporarily ban genetic research in the USSR (despite the fact that the Institute of Genetics continued to exist). Received its popular name by the name of T. D. Lysenko, who became a symbol of the campaign. The campaign unfolded in scientific biological circles from about the mid-1930s to the first half of the 1960s. Its organizers were party and government officials, including I. V. Stalin himself. In a figurative sense, the term Lysenkoism can be used to refer to any administrative persecution of scientists for their "politically incorrect" scientific views.
In particular, the existence of different scientific schools in the same branch of science is also due to the objective necessity of the existence of different points of view, views, and approaches. And life, practice then confirm or refute various theories, or reconcile them, as, for example, reconciled such ardent opponents as R. Hooke and I. Newton were in physics in their time, or I.P. Pavlov and A.A. Ukhtomsky in physiology.
1675, meeting of the newly founded Royal Society of London, discussion of the work of the thirty-two-year-old Cambridge Isaac Newton "The Theory of Light and Colors" ...
So, the young scientist, confident in advance of success, sets out in detail its essence. He confirms the propositions put forward by the results of a brilliant series of experiments. Experiments with glass prisms amaze the audience with surprise and novelty. They are ready to applaud him, when suddenly the well-known specialist in optics Robert Hooke, invited to the meeting as a reviewer, rises and turns everything upside down.
Without hiding sarcasm, he publicly declares that the accuracy of the experiments does not cause him any doubts, because before Newton ... he conducted them himself, which, fortunately, he managed to report in his scientific work"Micrography". Having carefully read the contents of this work, it is easy to see that the same data are presented there only with different conclusions, which Hooke is ready to convince the audience right on the spot by reading out some excerpts from it. It is strange that, published ten years ago, it inexplicably escaped the attention of Newton, who was carried away by optics. Well, hell with him, this plagiarism. The main thing is that Newton very ineptly used the material borrowed without demand, because of which he came to an erroneous conclusion about the corpuscular nature of light. Newton's other conclusion regarding the presence of seven color components in a white light beam and the explanation of the immunity of this phenomenon by the eye due to their non-manifestation does not go into any gate at all. "Taking this conclusion for truth," an indignant Hooke quipped, "it can be said with great success that musical sounds are hidden in the air before they sound."
Hooke himself held a completely different concept in his view of the nature of light. He was convinced that light should be considered in the form of transverse waves, and its stripe color can only be explained by the reflection of a refracted beam from the surface of a glass prism.
Imagine how furious Newton was with his reviewer! In response, he sharply condemned Hooke for an unacceptable tone for a scientist of this rank, and called the accusation of plagiarism vile slander, dictated by envy of his person and scientific achievements.
Hooke, of course, did not forgive Newton for this insolence and, after a while, burst into a series of angry accusatory letters, to which Newton did not fail to respond in the same spirit. All of these letters have been preserved and published. Reading them, you just blush with shame for these scientists. Such licentiousness, perhaps, no one else in her history has ever reached. Apparently, both great scientists believed that a thought sounds more convincing when it is accompanied by a strong word.
The most curious thing is that, having poured verbal slops on each other's heads, but without proving anything to one another, the rivals reconciled.
Nevertheless, time has judged their dispute - at present, Newton's corpuscular theory and the presence of seven color components in a white light beam are studied already in the school physics course.
A. A. Ukhtomsky entered the history of Russian and world science and culture as one of the brilliant successors of the St. Petersburg physiological school, the birth of which is associated with the names of I. M. Sechenov and N. E. Vvedensky. This school existed simultaneously and in parallel with the school of I.P. Pavlov, however, its discoveries and achievements were, as it were, “drowned out” by the widely popularized works of I.P. Pavlov and his school, recognized Soviet power"the only correct" view of the development of scientific thought.
Nevertheless, both domestic physiological schools - the school of I.P. Pavlova and the school of A.A. Ukhtomsky in the 30s of the XX century joined forces and brought their theoretical views closer in understanding the mechanisms of behavior control.
2. Communications in science.
Any scientific research can be carried out only in a certain community of scientists. This is due to the fact that any researcher, even the most qualified one, always needs to discuss and discuss his ideas, obtained facts, theoretical constructions with colleagues in order to avoid mistakes and misconceptions. It should be noted that among novice researchers there is often an opinion that “I will do scientific work on my own, but when I get great results, then I will publish, discuss, etc.”. But, unfortunately, this does not happen. Scientific robinsonades never ended in anything worthwhile - a person "burrowed", got entangled in his searches and, disappointed, left scientific activity. Therefore, scientific communication is always necessary.
One of the conditions for scientific communication for any researcher is his direct and indirect communication with all colleagues working in this branch of science - through specially organized scientific and scientific and practical conferences, seminars, symposiums (direct or virtual communication) and through scientific literature - articles in print and electronic journals, collections, books, etc. (mediated communication). In both cases, the researcher, on the one hand, speaks himself or publishes his results, on the other hand, he listens and reads what other researchers, his colleagues, are doing.
3. Implementation of the research results
- the most important moment of scientific activity, since the ultimate goal of science as a branch of the national economy is, of course, the implementation of the results obtained in practice. However, one should be warned against the idea, widely held among people who are far from science, that the results of each scientific work must be necessarily implemented. Let's imagine such an example. In pedagogy alone, more than 3,000 candidate and doctoral dissertations are defended annually. Assuming that all the results obtained must be implemented, then imagine a poor teacher who has to read all these dissertations, and each of them contains from 100 to 400 pages of typewritten text. Naturally, no one will do this.
The implementation mechanism is different. The results of individual studies are published in abstracts, articles, then they are generalized (and thus, as it were, "reduced") in books, brochures, monographs as purely scientific publications, and then in an even more generalized, abbreviated and systematized form they end up in university textbooks. And already completely “wrung out”, the most fundamental results end up in school textbooks.
In addition, not all studies can be implemented. Often, research is carried out to enrich science itself, its arsenal of facts, and the development of its theory. And only after the accumulation of a certain "critical mass" of facts, concepts, there are qualitative leaps in the introduction of scientific achievements into mass practice. A classic example is the science of mycology, the science of molds. Whoever has been mocking mycological scientists for decades: "mold must be destroyed, not studied." And this happened until, in 1940, A. Fleming (Sir Alexander Fleming - British bacteriologist) discovered the bactericidal properties of penicillium (a kind of mold). The antibiotics created on their basis allowed saving millions of human lives only during the Second World War, and today we cannot imagine how medicine could manage without them.
Modern science is guided by three basic principles of knowledge: the principle of determinism, the principle of correspondence and the principle of complementarity.
Principle of determinism, being general scientific, organizes the construction of knowledge in specific sciences. Determinism appears, first of all, in the form of causality as a set of circumstances that precede in time any given event and cause it. That is, there is a connection between phenomena and processes, when one phenomenon, process (cause) under certain conditions necessarily generates, produces another phenomenon, process (consequence).
The fundamental shortcoming of the former, classical (so-called Laplacian) determinism is the circumstance that it was limited to only one directly acting causality, interpreted purely mechanistically: the objective nature of chance was denied, probabilistic connections were taken beyond the limits of determinism and opposed to the material determination of phenomena.
The modern understanding of the principle of determinism presupposes the existence of various objectively existing forms of the interconnection of phenomena, many of which are expressed in the form of relationships that do not have a directly causal nature, that is, they do not directly contain the moment of generation of one by the other. This includes spatial and temporal correlations, functional dependencies, etc. In particular, in modern science, in contrast to the determinism of classical science, uncertainty relations formulated in the language of probabilistic laws or relations of fuzzy sets, or interval values, etc., turn out to be especially important.
However, all forms of real interrelationships of phenomena are ultimately formed on the basis of a universal effective causality, outside of which not a single phenomenon of reality exists. Including such events, called random, in the aggregate of which statistical laws are revealed. Recently, the theory of probability, mathematical statistics, etc. are increasingly being introduced into research in the social sciences and the humanities.
Conformity principle. In its original form, the correspondence principle was formulated as an "empirical rule", expressing a regular connection in the form of a limit transition between the theory of the atom, based on quantum postulates, and classical mechanics; and also between special relativity and classical mechanics. So, for example, four mechanics are conditionally distinguished: the classical mechanics of I. Newton (corresponding to large masses, that is, masses much larger than the mass of elementary particles, and low speeds, that is, speeds much less than the speed of light), relativistic mechanics - the theory of relativity A. Einstein ("large" masses, "large" speeds), quantum mechanics ("small" masses, "small" speeds) and relativistic quantum mechanics ("small" masses, "large" speeds). They are completely consistent with each other "at the junctions". In the process of further development of scientific knowledge, the truth of the correspondence principle was proved for almost all the most important discoveries in physics, and after that in other sciences, after which its generalized formulation became possible: theories, the validity of which was experimentally established for a particular field of phenomena, with the appearance of new, more general theories are not discarded as something false, but retain their significance for the former field of phenomena as the limiting form and special case of new theories. The conclusions of the new theories in the area where the old "classical" theory was valid pass into the conclusions of the classical theory.
It should be noted that the strict implementation of the correspondence principle takes place within the framework of the evolutionary development of science. But situations are not ruled out scientific revolutions when a new theory refutes the previous one and replaces it.
The principle of correspondence means, in particular, the continuity of scientific theories. Researchers have to pay attention to the need to follow the correspondence principle, since recently works have begun to appear in the humanities and social sciences, especially those performed by people who came to these branches of science from other, “strong” areas of scientific knowledge, in which attempts are made to create new theories, concepts, etc., little or no connection with previous theories. New theoretical constructions can be useful for the development of science, but if they do not correlate with the previous ones, then science will cease to be integral, and scientists will soon cease to understand each other altogether.
Complementarity principle. The principle of complementarity arose as a result of new discoveries in physics also at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when it became clear that the researcher, studying the object, introduces certain changes into it, including through the device used. This principle was first formulated by N. Bohr (Niels Henrik David Bohr - Danish theoretical physicist and public figure, one of the founders modern physics): reproduction of the integrity of the phenomenon requires the use of mutually exclusive "additional" classes of concepts in cognition. In physics, in particular, this meant that obtaining experimental data on some physical quantities invariably associated with a change in data on other quantities that are additional to the first (narrow - physical - understanding of the principle of complementarity). With the help of complementarity, equivalence is established between classes of concepts that comprehensively describe contradictory situations in various areas of knowledge (general understanding of the principle of complementarity).
The principle of complementarity has significantly changed the whole structure of science. If classical science functioned as an integral education, focused on obtaining a system of knowledge in its final and complete form, on an unambiguous study of events, excluding from the context of science the influence of the researcher’s activity and the means used by him, on assessing the knowledge included in the available fund of science as absolutely reliable, then with With the advent of the complementarity principle, the situation has changed.
The following is important:
- the inclusion of the subjective activity of the researcher in the context of science has led to a change in the understanding of the subject of knowledge: now it is not reality "in its pure form", but some of its slice, given through the prisms of accepted theoretical and empirical means and methods of its development by the cognizing subject;
- the interaction of the object under study with the researcher (including through devices) cannot but lead to different manifestations of the properties of the object, depending on the type of its interaction with the cognizing subject in various, often mutually exclusive conditions. And this means the legitimacy and equality of various scientific descriptions of the object, including various theories describing the same object, the same subject area. Therefore, obviously, Bulgakov's Woland says: "All theories stand one another."
It is important to emphasize that the same subject area can, in accordance with the complementarity principle, be described by different theories. The same classical mechanics can be described not only by the mechanics of Newton, known from school textbooks of physics, but also by the mechanics of W. Hamilton, the mechanics of G. Hertz, the mechanics of C. Jacobi. They differ in their initial positions - what is taken as the main undetermined quantities - force, momentum, energy, etc.
Or, for example, at present, many socio-economic systems are being studied by building mathematical models using various branches of mathematics: differential equations, probability theory, game theory, etc. At the same time, the interpretation of the results of modeling the same phenomena, processes using different mathematical means gives although close, but still different conclusions.
Means of scientific research (means of knowledge)
In the course of the development of science, means of cognition are developed and improved: material, mathematical, logical, linguistic. In addition, in recent times, it is obviously necessary to add information tools to them as a special class. All means of cognition are specially created means. In this sense, material, informational, mathematical, logical, linguistic means of cognition have a common property: they are designed, created, developed, substantiated for certain cognitive purposes.
Material means of knowledge These are, first of all, devices for scientific research. In history, the emergence of material means of cognition is associated with the formation of empirical research methods - observation, measurement, experiment.
These funds are directly aimed at the objects under study, they play the main role in the empirical testing of hypotheses and other results of scientific research, in the discovery of new objects, facts. The use of material means of cognition in science in general - a microscope, a telescope, a synchrophasotron, satellites of the Earth, etc. - has a profound influence on the formation of the conceptual apparatus of the sciences, on the ways of describing the subjects studied, the methods of reasoning and representations, on the generalizations, idealizations and arguments used.
