More on Interactions in Experimental Research

Interactions between factors, when there are only two, are easy to identify in two-way tables, as in Table 9.1, or even make visible in figures such as Figures 9.1 to 9.3. The presence of interactions complicates the inter­pretation of the experimental results relative to the benefits or harmful effects of individual factors. If there

More Factors at More Than Two Levels

When dealing with more than two factors, each at more than two levels, the significance of main effects and interactions remains unchanged. Now we need to analyze the experimental responses for main effects and interactions with three or more factors. For instance, with three factors instead of the previously analyzed two, the main effects

Searching through Published Literature

1. Researcher and Scholar Research scientists, of necessity, need to become scholars. The best scholars are not necessarily the best researchers, and vice versa. Knowledge in science and technology is so diversified that a pro­fessor, an expert in his own area of specialization, is nearly a novice in regard to the knowledge of other

Diversity to Match the Need

Perhaps no other aspect of experimental research, as an orga­nized activity, has so much diversity as the setup, often referred to as the apparatus, used for carrying out the experiment. With some reservation, we may say that there are as many setups as there are researchers. Notable exceptions are the standard equip­ment used repeatedly,

Designing the Apparatus of Experimental Research

To design is to contrive for a purpose; purpose is the all-impor­tant consideration. The first question any researcher needs to ask, as a way of designing the apparatus is, What do I want to observe? The answer to this question is part of the hypothesis. To the extent that the answer to the above

Simplicity, Compactness, and Elegance of Experimental Research

Guided by the hypothesis, one may visualize the kind of arrange­ment among several pieces of equipment to constitute the setup. It is worth one’s while to review each conceived piece of equip­ment individually, asking oneself crucial questions: Is it possible to eliminate a given piece of equipment and still accomplish the purpose? Is there

Measuring Instruments in Experimental Research

There are very few experiments in science and technology, even when only an object or a phenomenon is to be observed, in which no measuring instruments are involved. And when the change in a measurable quantity constitutes the effect (sometimes referred to as outcome or quality characteristic) part of the hypoth­esis, the need for

Calibration of Experimental Research

For most of the primary and secondary measures, there are mea­suring instruments, like rulers for lengths, balances for weights, and thermometers for temperatures. In daily routines, we take such measuring instruments for granted. If a person’s tempera­ture is noticed to be 104°F on a newly bought thermometer, one does not react with complacence, wondering,

Researcher as Handyman

The circumstances in which an experimenter finds himself deter­mine the variety and degree of skill demanded of him. To researchers in humanities, mathematics, and “theoretical” sci­ences, this concern for building the experimental setup is just hearsay. At the other extreme, almost all areas of engineering and technology require, for experimental research, some kind of

Cost Considerations in Experimental Research

The cost of an experimental setup may be considered against two items: (1) the cost of the various pieces of equipment, and (2) the cost of the experimenter’s time. In places where research is part of the tradition, several items, like motors, gear trains, pulleys, tubes, and clamps, may be available, waiting to be

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The Subject, Logic of Scientific Research

Philosophy is a typical subject of liberal arts. Logic is a part of philosophy; either at undergraduate or graduate level, it is taught by professors in the Department of Philosophy, unless there is a Department of Logic at the particular college. For the purpose of delimiting the scope of this book, we may act

Some Terms in Logic

With the definition and the context of logic in scientific research now understood, let us look at some terms used in logic and their context in reasoning: Definition: a group of words that assigns a mean­ing to some word or group of words. Every defini­tion consists of two parts: (a) the word or group

Induction versus Deduction

Some overlapping, hence confusion, between induction and deduction is possible because it is left to the author of the argu­ment whether to stress the probability, even when the probability is very high, or simply to equate very high probability with cer­tainty. Once an elderly colleague of mine took a few days off in a

Inferential Logic and Experimental Research

That logic is the art (or science?) of reasoning is a truism. The purpose of any research, particularly experimental research (so far as it can be distinguished from theoretical research), is to draw inferences from the results, as recorded or observed, of the exper­iments. The inferences can be in the form of either statements

Logical Fallacies in Experimental Research

Inasmuch as a given researcher, more often than not, bases his own research on the published research of others in the field, he needs to understand the way inferences are drawn. And when it is his turn to publish his own research, he should make every effort to make his inferences easily understood. In

Argument in Experimental Research

Argument is the intellectual process in which one or more pre­mises are used to arrive at a conclusion, which is, in fact, the inference of the argument. A premise is a statement asserting or denying, but not questioning, something, the truth-value of which is taken for granted. When a conclusion can be reached with

Categorical Propositions in Experimental Research

Propositions are statements. Categorical propositions are statements about categories, that is, about groups or classes. A class is a col­lection of all objects (or entities) that have some special character­istics in common. Categorical propositions are used both as premises and conclusions in the process of deductive argumenta­tion, in which the premises are expected to

Conventions, Symbolism, and Relations among Categorical Propositions in Experimental Research

The four forms of categorical propositions (1) through (4) men­tioned above are named, and often referred to, respectively, as A, E, I, and O propositions. The (verb) terms of affirmation (e.g., “is,” “are,” and “were”) and negation (e.g., “is not,” “are not,” and “was not”) are referred to as indicating the quality of affirmation

Diagrammatic Representation of Categorical Propositions in Experimental Research

Propositions otherwise expressed in words can also be picturized, using circles to represent classes; some of the symbolic representa­tions in traditional logic and their literal meanings are shown in Figure 13.2. A categorical proposition, having to refer to two classes, one each for the subject term and the predicate term, requires two cir­cles for

Categorical Syllogisms in Experimental Research

A categorical syllogism is a deductive argument. As mentioned ear­lier, it consists of three categorical propositions, the first two of these, in sequence, being premises and the third, the conclusion. The term that occurs as the predicate of the conclusion is called the major term; the premise that contains the major term is known