Consensus Vastly Favors the Existence of the Scientific Method
A large and powerful group of our top educational leaders claim that the scientific method doesn’t exist, that science is a culture, that there is no one method, that the scientific method is only a textbook method, that scientific knowledge is achieved by the self-regulating norms of the scientific community over time. They use these excuses to prevent the teaching of the scientific method and a formula for it. In addition, these excuses are used by those with government grants in the social sciences, including education, so that they don’t have to meet the quality standards of the scientific method as natural scientists must. As a result, our schools, teachers, students, and society are greatly harmed. Here is evidence that they are wrong.
In his book Of One Mind: The Collectivization of Science (1995), John Ziman, whose work was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Daubert decision (which acknowledged the existence of the scientific method), says, “This principle can be stated quite easily: the goal of science is a consensus of rational opinion over the widest possible field.”
Today’s search engines do a remarkable job searching internet sites and now many books. Here is what a search by Google in November 2005 shows:
“scientific method” more than 3.2 million hits
“scientific method does not exist” about 1,020 hits
“scientific method alleged method” 87 hits
“scientific method no one method” 209 hits
“culture of science” 66,000 hits
Thus there is little doubt that the consensus is that the scientific method exists. It naturally follows that it should be taught and used by educational researchers and top leaders.
