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42
Task 3. Find the sentence describing the final step in the development of
hypothesis.
Task 4. Be ready to answer the following questions in class.
1. What do you know about the origin of the word “science”?
2. When and where was the word “scientist” introduced? What did it mean?
3. How many steps can be distinguished in the “scientific method”?
4. What is the process of collecting of facts based on?
5. What does the 3
d
step consist of?
Task 5. Translate paragraph 9 in writing.
Topics for discussion
1. The main steps of the “scientific method”.
2. The role of deductive reasoning in science.
Text 3
Research: Fundamental and Applied, and the Public
1. People are always talking about fundamental research, implying thereby the
existence of a nameless opposite. A good definition of fundamental research will
certainly be welcomed: let us see whether we can invent one. We have to begin, of
course, by defining research. Unfortunately the concept of research contains a
negative element. Research is searching without knowing what you are going to
find: if you know what you are going to find you have already found it, and your
activity is not research. Now, since the outcome of your research is unknown, how
can you know whether it will be fundamental or not?
2. We may say for instance that fundamental research is that which you
undertake without caring whether the results will be of practical value or not. It may
not be reasonable to go further and say that fundamental research is that which will
be abandoned as soon as it shows a sign of leading to results of practical value. By
saying this you may limit your own achievement. It will be better to say that
fundamental research is that which may have no immediate practical value, but can
be counted upon as leading to practical value sooner or later. The extension of
knowledge and understanding of the world around us will always be profitable in
the long run, if not in the short.
3. This is a very powerful argument for fundamental research and it is a
completely unassailable one, and yet there are people who will not like it. Let us
seek a definition that will give fundamental research a value of its own, not
dependent upon other uses appearing soon or late. We say, for instance, that
fundamental research is that which extends the theory. Now we have to theorize
upon theory.
4. There have been several viewpoints about theory. One is that theory discerns
the underlying simplicity of the universe. The non-theorist sees a confused mass of
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