Research Report #7:

Value of Method Quotations

Importance of the Scientific Method

Karl Pearson, in The Grammar of Science (1911), explained the importance of method:

“Personally I have no recollection of at least 90 percent of the facts that were taught to me at school, but the notions of method which I derived from my instructor in Greek grammar (the contents of which I have long since forgotten) remain in my mind as the really valuable part of my school equipment for life.”

Scientific Method for Kids

Isaac Asimov, in his introduction to Saul and Newman’s Science Fare (1986), explained the importance of the scientific method for kids:

“In fact, it is to children that the scientific method should be taught, for it must be instilled early. If a child grows up without this mental discipline and becomes an adult without having learned how to think in a systematic way, it may be too late to begin then.”

Scientific Method Problem – Illustrating the Value of Method

David Perkins, in Teaching Thinking Skills: Theory and Practice (1987):

“In an experiment on the teaching of mathematical problem solving conducted by Alan Schoenfeld the students were divided into two groups. One group studied a series of worked-out solutions to problems that demonstrated certain problem-solving techniques; however, the materials did not identify the problem-solving techniques. Another group studied the same series of solutions with overlays that highlighted the tactics being used. Both groups practiced solving problems. Whereas the second group showed marked gains in problem-solving performance, the first showed none at all.”

Purpose of the Scientific Method – Guide for Scientists Consciously or Unconsciously

J.A. Easley, Jr., in “Scientific Method as an Education Objective” (in Encyclopedia of Education, 1971):

“Scientific method is the set of general principles which guides scientists (consciously or unconsciously) in the search for new knowledge and which serve scientists and laymen alike in the evaluation of claims to knowledge. Such principles are sometimes appealed to as criteria to distinguish scientific thought from non-scientific thought, but this sharp distinction no longer appears possible.”

“Method” as Used in “The Scientific Method” Means a Guide

Some oppose the scientific method because they claim that there can be no one method by which scientists break new ground. This is correct – there is no one “method.” The correct interpretation of “method” (as used in “the scientific method”) means that it is only a guide, consisting of a number of stages and ingredients used in a very flexible manner. Under these steps or stages, you apply thinking skills to use creative, logical, and technical methods to actually accomplish results.

In Scientific Knowledge and Its Social Problems (1971) J. R. Ravetz elaborates:

There is no doubt that without an appropriate ‘method,’ in some sense of the term, scientific work is impossible. A trained scientist can instantly identify the traces of the bungling amateur, or the crank, by the absence of ‘method’ revealed in a report of his work. Also, there is a rough distinction in practice between ‘methods’ in plural, referring to the more detailed techniques of work, ‘method’ in the singular, referring to more general principles…