FOUR FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SCIENCE

1.  Probably the first essential of a science is that it be objective and unbiased.

The scientist must get "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," as the legal oath runs. When a scientist studies something, he or she must get correct facts about it, not sugared to suit someone's taste, and he or she must get all the relevant facts about it, not just a selection of the facts.

2.  A second characteristic of science is that it is interested in arriving at generalizations, usually about cause-and-effect relations.

Science is not interested in individual facts alone. The object of all science is the separation of what is common and general from what is accidental and different. For example, science is not interested in the fact that an apple falls to the ground when it is released from a height. Science is, however, interested in stating a relationship of attraction between the earth and other objects (including apples).

3.  A third characteristic of science is that it constantly develops better and better methods for securing the facts that are deemed necessary to arrive at the generalizations it seeks. 

4.  The fourth fundamental characteristic of a science is that science has achieved a coherent body of theoretical generalizations into which all new research is integrated. 

research is increasingly fruitful when it starts out with problems and hypotheses that are systematically interrelated and are based on previous research. 

NOTE:  THESE FOUR TRAITS ARE WHAT DISTINGUISHES SCIENCE FROM COMMON SENSE.

Everyone has common sense in a degree that depends on his or her native intelligence and the breadth of his or her experience. 

COMMON SENSE consists of generalizations drawn from personal experience, and is therefore partial and selective. 

But scientists also need specialized training and must acquire special habits of mind so that they will be objective, work toward generalizations not limited by personal experience, use methods and tools, and develop abstract theories. 

All these things can be learned just as any other habits and skills are learned. 

Scientists, like anyone else, are helped by common sense, since common sense usually helps them to learn the four types of habits and skills that scientists need, and it helps them to devise new tools for better observation. 

But scientists also have to be on their guard against common sense, since common sense is based on DIRECT experience whereas science must be based on CONTROLLED experience.
________________________________________________________________________________________
RESOURCE: 'SOCIOLOGY: The Study of Human Relations' by Arnold M. Rose, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA (1967)