Methods of scientific knowledge are the complexity of techniques and operations aimed at the theoretical and practical development of real-world phenomena. Methods are necessary to achieve a given scientific goal.
Methods of scientific knowledge are divided depending on the breadth of their applicability in the process of scientific research. So distinguish the following groups of methols.
General methods , which are also called general philosophical. These include metaphysical and dialectical methods.
General scientific methods used for research in various fields of science, and which have a fairly wide range of applications in interdisciplinary research.
Particular scientific methods used strictly in the framework of the study of a particular, specific science or a separate scientific phenomenon.
Methods of scientific knowledge are divided not only by field of application, but also by level of knowledge. Empirically and theoretical methods are distinguished by this criterion.
Empirical methods of scientific knowledge use experiment, description, observation, and measurement.
Observation is the perception of the phenomena of the surrounding reality with the aim of studying them. Description is the fixation of information about the studied objects using natural or artificial language means. An experiment is an observation in specially created and controlled conditions that can restore the course of events and phenomena when the initial conditions are repeated. Comparison (measurement) - comparison of objects according to certain similar properties or simultaneous relative research and evaluation of the general properties or attributes of objects.
Theoretical methods operate using idealization, generalization (systematization of empirical facts), axiomatization (construction of theories based on axioms) and formalization (construction of abstract models of the phenomena studied). At both of these levels, a modeling method is used.
The structure and methods of scientific knowledge interconnected. Two links are distinguished in the structure of scientific knowledge : scientific hypotheses (assumptions) and factual material (firmly established facts). Depending on the historical stage in the development of scientific knowledge, the norms of knowledge have changed.
The methodology of science pursues the goal of creating new methods and methods for solving problems that arise before society and science. Many methods of scientific knowledge are becoming less effective. Today, to study scientific facts, it is more and more widely used not the methods of classical science, but the complexes of methods within the framework of a systematic approach.
A systematic approach to the application of methods of scientific knowledge consists in the fact that when examining an object as a whole system, its elements are considered not separately, but in combination and interconnection. And also in the course of research, it is mandatory to take into account not only the internal connections of the phenomena studied, but also the external conditions of their existence.
The scientific and technological revolution raised the level of science to a higher level.
For scientific research, the establishment of a specific fact is not sufficient. It is important to give him the correct explanation of a scientific nature, from the standpoint of modern knowledge, to reveal its practical or theoretical significance. Objective knowledge in science is carried out using specific methods carried out with a certain sequence, the use of mandatory techniques and operations.
Since the sciences are divided into natural and humanitarian, the methods used to study these sciences distinguish between natural sciences and social-humanitarian. According to the branches of science, they are classified as mathematical, medical, biological, socio-economic, etc.