3.5: Summary

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Summary of Section 3.1: Philosophy of Science

The philosophy of science is the exploration of science by asking at least three questions: What are the foundations of science? What are the methods of science? And what are the implications of science? Karl Popper is a notable figure for his contribution of the concept of falsification, while Thomas Kuhn is well known for his concept of paradigm shifts.

Summary of Section 3.2: What is the Scientific Method?

The scientific method is explained using three models, from simple to complex. Common to all three are the initial steps, observation and theory making. Observations of the world around us lead to inquiry about the phenomena we see and to propose theories about how we think the world works. Derived from the theory is a hypothesis that will allow us to test the theory. Evidence in support of the theory may be found by collecting and analyzing the data.

Summary of Section 3.3: Applying the Scientific Method to Political Phenomena

Open access journal article abstracts are mapped to see how political scientists utilize the scientific method in their research. Not all political scientists will utilize each stage of the scientific method due to the nature of their research question. In the three articles mapped in this section, all participate in the observation of phenomena and theory making; however only Hager and Hilbig 2019 and Junk 2019 participate in data collection; whereas Junk 2019 and Hegre et. al. 2019 both update their theories.