Read the book: «Scientific research basics in the transportation process»

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ISBN 978-5-0059-4414-6

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The study guide discusses the methodology and methodology of scientific research, modern methods of scientific research, the development of theoretical premises, planning and conducting experiments, processing measurement results, assessing errors and observations.

The textbook allows you to acquire the skills to implement the methodological and practical justification of scientific research, methodically competently set up a technical experiment, including using elements of optimization and multimedia technologies. Be able to formulate the conclusions of scientific research; prepare reports, reports or write articles on the results of scientific research.

The textbook is intended for students of railway transport universities studying in the direction 23.03.01 «Technology of transport processes», as well as for students of other undergraduate areas studying the technology and organization of transportation in railway transport.

Reviewers:

Associate Professor of the Department “Management of operational work and transport safety” of the Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education “Russian University of Transport”, Ph. D. P.A. Minakov
Associate Professor of the Department “Management of operational work and transport safety” of the Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education “Russian University of Transport”, Ph. D. V.N. Shmal

Introduction

The concept of «science» has several basic meanings. Firstly, by science (Greek episteme, lat. scientia) we understand the sphere of human activity aimed at the development and theoretical schematization of objective knowledge about reality. In the second meaning, science acts as a result of this activity – a system of acquired scientific knowledge. Thirdly, the term «science» is used to refer to individual branches of scientific knowledge. Fourthly, science can be regarded as a branch of culture that did not exist at all times and not among all peoples. In the course of historical development, science has become the productive force of society and the most important social institution.

The immediate goals of science are obtaining knowledge about the world around us, predicting the processes and phenomena of reality on the basis of the laws it discovers. In a broad sense, its goal is a theoretical reflection of reality. Science was created to directly reveal the essential aspects of all phenomena of nature, society and thinking.

Not all knowledge can be considered scientific. It is impossible to recognize as scientific the knowledge that a person receives only on the basis of simple observation. This knowledge plays an important role in people’s lives, but they do not reveal the essence of the phenomena, the relationship between them, which would make it possible to explain why this phenomenon occurs one way or another, and to predict its further development.

The correctness of scientific knowledge is determined not only by logic, but, above all, by its mandatory verification in practice. Scientific knowledge is fundamentally different from blind faith, from the unquestioning recognition of this or that position as true, without any logical substantiation and practical verification. Revealing the regular connections of reality, science expresses them in abstract concepts and schemes that strictly correspond to this reality.

1. Science and its role in the development of society

1.1 The concept of science

The main tasks of science include:

1) the discovery of the laws of motion of nature, society, thinking and knowledge;

2) collection, analysis, generalization of facts;

3) systematization of acquired knowledge;

4) explanation of the essence of phenomena and processes;

5) forecasting events, phenomena and processes;

6) establishment of directions and forms of practical use of acquired knowledge.

Being integral to the practical way of mastering the world, science as the production of knowledge is a very specific form of activity, different from both activity in the sphere of material production and other types of spiritual activity.

If in material production knowledge is used only as an ideal means, then in science its obtaining forms the main and immediate goal, regardless of the form in which this goal is embodied – whether in the form of a theoretical description, a scheme of a technological process, a summary of experimental data or a formula of what kind. – or a drug. Unlike types of activity, the result of which is often known in advance or set before the start of activity, scientific activity is rightfully called such only insofar as it gives an increment to new knowledge, i.e. its result is fundamentally unconventional. That is why science acts as a force that constantly revolutionizes other activities.

From the aesthetic (artistic) way of mastering reality, the bearer of which is art, science is distinguished by the desire for impersonal, maximally generalized objective knowledge, while in art the results of artistic knowledge are inseparable from an individually unique personal element. Often, art is characterized as «thinking in images», and science – as «thinking in concepts», with the aim of emphasizing that the former develops mainly the sensual-imaginative side of a person’s creative ability, while science develops mainly the intellectual-conceptual one. However, these differences do not mean an impenetrable line between science and art, which are united by a creatively cognitive attitude to reality. On the one hand, in the constructions of science, in particular in the construction of a theory, in a mathematical formula, in the scheme of an experiment or its idea, the aesthetic element often plays a significant role, which was specially noted by many scientists. On the other hand, works of art carry, in addition to aesthetic, and cognitive load.

The relationship between science and philosophy as specific forms of social consciousness has a complex character. Philosophy always, to some extent, performs in relation to science the functions of the methodology of cognition and the worldview interpretation of its results. Philosophy is also united with science by the desire to build knowledge in a theoretical form, to the logical evidence of one’s conclusions. This striving reaches its highest embodiment in dialectical materialism, a philosophy that consciously and openly associates itself with science, with the scientific method, making the most general laws of the development of nature, society and thought the subject of its study and, at the same time, relying on the results of science.

The development of science is characterized by a cumulative character. At each historical stage, it summarizes its past achievements in a concentrated form, and each result of science is an integral part of its general fund, not being crossed out by subsequent successes in cognition, but only being refined and processed.

The continuity of science leads to a single line of its progressive development and its irreversible character. It also ensures the functioning of science as a special kind of «social memory» of mankind, theoretically crystallizing the past experience of knowing reality and mastering its laws.

The process of development of science finds its expression not only in the increase in the amount of accumulated positive knowledge. It also affects the entire structure of science.

At each historical stage, scientific knowledge uses a certain set of cognitive forms – fundamental categories and concepts, methods, principles and explanation schemes, i.e. everything that is united by the concept of style of thinking. For example, the ancient style of thinking was characterized by observation as the main way of obtaining knowledge; the science of modern times is based on experiment and on the dominance of the analytical approach, which directs thinking to the search for the simplest, further indecomposable primary elements of the reality under study. Modern science is characterized by the desire for a holistic and multilateral coverage of the objects under study.

Each specific structure of scientific thinking, after its approval, opens the way to the extensive development of knowledge, to its spread to new spheres of reality. However, the accumulation of new material that cannot be explained on the basis of existing schemes forces us to look for new, intensive ways of developing science, which leads from time to time to scientific revolutions, i.e. a radical change in the main components of the content structure of science, to the promotion of new principles of knowledge, categories and methods of science. The alternation of extensive and revolutionary periods of development, which is characteristic both for science as a whole and for its individual branches, sooner or later also finds its expression in corresponding changes in the forms of organization of science.

The entire history of science is permeated by a complex dialectical combination of processes of differentiation and integration; the development of ever new areas of reality and the deepening of knowledge lead to the differentiation of science, to its fragmentation into more and more specialized areas of knowledge; at the same time, the need for the synthesis of knowledge constantly finds expression in the tendency towards the integration of science.

Initially, new branches of science were formed according to the objective feature – in accordance with the involvement in the process of cognition of new areas and aspects of reality. For modern science, the transition from subject to problem orientation is becoming more and more characteristic, when new areas of knowledge arise in connection with the advancement of a certain major theoretical or practical problem. Thus, a significant number of butt (boundary) sciences such as biophysics, etc. arose. Their appearance continues the process of differentiation of science in new forms, but at the same time provides a new basis for the integration of previously disparate scientific disciplines.

Important integrating functions in relation to individual branches of science are performed by philosophy, which generalizes the scientific picture of the world, as well as individual scientific disciplines such as mathematics, logic, cybernetics, arming science with a system of unified methods.

Science can be seen as a system consisting of:

– theories;

– methodology,

– research methods and techniques;

– practice of implementation of the obtained results.

If science is considered from the point of view of the interaction between the subject and the object of knowledge, then it includes the following elements: the object is what a particular science studies. For example, the object of the theory of finance is the basic laws of the emergence and development of finance, their essence, purpose and functioning; subject – a specific scientist, specialist, researcher, scientific organization; scientific activity of subjects applying certain techniques, methods for discovering the laws of reality.

The development of science proceeds from the collection of facts, their study and systematization, generalization and disclosure of individual patterns to a coherent, logically coherent system of scientific knowledge, which makes it possible to explain already known facts and predict new ones.

The path of knowledge is determined from living contemplation to abstract thinking and from the latter to practice.

The process of cognition includes the accumulation of facts. No science can exist without systematization and generalization, without logical comprehension of facts. But although facts are the necessary material for a scientist, they are not science in themselves. Facts become an integral part of scientific knowledge when they appear in a systematized, generalized form.

Facts are systematized and generalized with the help of the simplest abstractions – concepts (definitions), which are important structural elements of science. The broadest concepts are called categories. These are the most general abstractions. The categories include philosophical concepts about the form and content of phenomena, in economic theory – this is a product, value, etc.

An important form of knowledge is principles (postulates), axioms. Under the principle understand the initial provisions of any branch of science. They are the initial form of systematization of knowledge (the axioms of Euclidean geometry, Bohr’s postulate in quantum mechanics, etc.).

The most important component link in the system of scientific knowledge is scientific laws that reflect the most essential, stable, repetitive objective internal connections in nature, society and thinking. Usually laws act in the form of a certain correlation of concepts, categories.

The highest form of generalization and systematization of knowledge is theory. Theory is understood as the doctrine of generalized experience (practice), which formulates scientific principles and methods that make it possible to generalize and cognize existing processes and phenomena, analyze the effect of various factors on them and offer recommendations for using them in people’s practical activities.

1.2. Science classification

Scientific disciplines, which in their totality form the system of sciences as a whole, can be very conditionally divided into 3 large groups (subsystems) – natural, social and technical, differing in their subjects and methods. There is no sharp line between these subsystems – a number of scientific disciplines occupy an intermediate position. So, for example, at the junction of technical and social sciences there is technical aesthetics, between natural and technical sciences – bionics, between natural and social sciences – economic geography. Each of these subsystems, in turn, forms a system of separate sciences coordinated and subordinated by subject and methodological connections in a variety of ways, which makes the problem of their detailed classification extremely complex and not completely resolved to this day.

Along with traditional research conducted within the framework of any one branch of science, the problematic nature of the orientation of modern science has given rise to a wide deployment of interdisciplinary and complex research conducted by means of several different scientific disciplines, the specific combination of which is determined by the nature of the corresponding problem. An example of this is the study of environmental problems, which is at the crossroads of technical sciences, biology, earth sciences, medicine, economics, mathematics, etc. Such problems arising in connection with the solution of large farms and social problems are typical of modern science.

According to their orientation, according to their direct relation to practice, individual sciences are usually divided into fundamental and applied. The task of the fundamental sciences is the knowledge of the laws governing the behavior and interaction of the basic structures of nature, society and thinking.

These laws and structures are studied in their “pure form”, as such, regardless of their possible use. Therefore, the fundamental sciences are sometimes called “pure”. The immediate goal of applied sciences is the application of the results of fundamental sciences to solve not only cognitive, but also social and practical problems. Therefore, here the criterion of success is not only the achievement of truth, but also the measure of satisfaction of the social order. At the intersection of applied sciences and practice, a special area of research is developing – developments that translate the results of applied science into the form of technological processes, structures, industrial materials, etc.

Applied sciences can develop with a predominance of both theoretical and practical problems. For example, in modern physics, electrodynamics and quantum mechanics play a fundamental role, the application of which to the knowledge of specific subject areas forms various branches of theoretical applied physics – metal physics, semiconductor physics, etc. Further application of their results to practice gives rise to a variety of practical applied sciences – metallurgy, semiconductor technology, etc., the direct connection of which with production is carried out by the corresponding specific developments. All technical sciences are applied.

As a rule, fundamental sciences are ahead of applied sciences in their development, creating a theoretical reserve for them. Applied science accounts for up to 80—90% of all research and funding in modern science.

One of the urgent problems of the modern organization of science is the establishment of strong, systematic relationships and the reduction of the time of movement within the framework of the cycle “fundamental research – applied research – development – implementation”.

In the Classifier of directions and specialties of higher professional education with a list of master’s programs (specializations) developed by scientific and methodological councils – departments of UMO in the areas of education, the following are highlighted:

1. Natural sciences and mathematics (mechanics, physics, chemistry, biology, soil science, geography, hydrometeorology, geology, ecology, etc.);

2. Humanities and socio-economic sciences (culturology, theology, philology, philosophy, linguistics, journalism, book science, history, political science, psychology, social work, sociology, regional studies, management, economics, art, physical culture, commerce, agroeconomics, statistics, art, jurisprudence, etc.);

3. Engineering sciences (construction, printing, telecommunications, metallurgy, mining, electronics and microelectronics, geodesy, radio engineering, architecture, etc.);

4. Agricultural sciences (agronomy, zootechnics, veterinary medicine, agroengineering, forestry, fisheries, etc.).

The Nomenclature of specialties of scientific workers, approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Russian Federation on January 25, 2000, indicates the following branches of science: physical and mathematical, chemical, biological, geological and mineralogical, technical, agricultural, historical, economic, philosophical, philological, geographical, legal, pedagogical, medical, pharmaceutical, veterinary, art history, architecture, psychological, sociological, political, cultural and earth sciences.

Each of the named groups of sciences can be subjected to further fragmentation. In statistical collections, the following sectors of science are usually distinguished: academic, industry, university and factory.

2. Research and its stages

2.1 Classification of scientific studies

The form of existence and development of science is scientific research. The Federal Law of the Russian Federation of August 23, 1996 «On Science and State Scientific and Technical Policy» defines research activities as activities aimed at obtaining and applying new knowledge.

The purpose of scientific research is the definition of a specific object and a comprehensive, reliable study of its structure, characteristics, relationships based on the principles and methods of cognition developed in science, as well as obtaining results useful for human activity, introduction into production with a further effect. The object of scientific research is a material or ideal system, and the subject is the structure of the system, the interaction of its elements, various properties, patterns of development.

The results of scientific research are evaluated the higher, the higher the scientific nature of the conclusions and generalizations made, the more reliable and effective they are. They should form the basis for new scientific developments.

One of the most important requirements for scientific research is a scientific generalization, which will allow establishing the dependence and connection between the phenomena and processes under study and drawing scientific conclusions. The deeper the findings, the higher the scientific level of the study.

Scientific research is classified on various grounds. For example, the Federal Law «On Science and State Science and Technology Policy» distinguishes between fundamental and applied research. Fundamental scientific research is understood as experimental or theoretical activity aimed at obtaining new knowledge about the basic laws of the structure, functioning and development of a person, society, and the natural environment. Applied scientific research is defined as research aimed primarily at applying new knowledge to achieve practical goals and solve specific problems. According to the source of funding, scientific research is budgetary, contractual and unfunded. Budget research is financed from the budget of the Russian Federation or the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Contractual research is financed by organizations – customers under economic contracts. Unfunded research can be carried out at the initiative of a scientist, an individual plan of a teacher.

By duration, scientific research can be divided into long-term, short-term and express research.

In science, one can single out empirical and theoretical levels of research and organization of knowledge. The theoretical level of scientific knowledge presupposes the presence of special abstract objects (constructs) and the theoretical laws connecting them, created for the purpose of an idealized description and explanation of empirical situations, i.e. for the purpose of understanding the essence of phenomena.

Their goal is to expand the knowledge of society and help to better understand the laws of nature. Such developments are used mainly for the further development of new theoretical studies, which can be long-term, budgetary, etc.

The elements of empirical knowledge are facts obtained through observations and experiments and stating the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of objects and phenomena. Stable repeatability and relationships between empirical characteristics are expressed using empirical laws, often of a probabilistic nature.

So, the theoretical level of research is characterized by the predominance of logical methods of cognition. At this level, the facts obtained are investigated, processed with the help of logical concepts, inferences, laws and other forms of thinking. Here, the objects under study are mentally analyzed, generalized, their essence, internal connections, laws of development are comprehended. At this level, sensory cognition (empiricism) may be present, but it is subordinate. The structural components of theoretical knowledge are the problem, hypothesis and theory. A problem is understood as a complex theoretical or practical task, the methods of solving which are unknown or not fully known.

A hypothesis is an assumption that requires verification and proof about the cause that causes a certain effect, about the structure of the objects under study and the nature of internal and external relations of structural elements. A hypothesis is scientific only if it is supported by the facts and it can exist only as long as it does not contradict the reliable facts of experience, otherwise it becomes just a fiction. The hypothesis is verified by the corresponding facts of experience, especially by experiment, obtaining the character of truth.

So the scientific hypothesis must meet the following requirements:

– relevance, i.e. relevance to the facts on which it relies;

– verifiability empirically (with the exception of unverifiable hypotheses);

– compatibility with existing scientific knowledge;

– possessing explanatory power, i.e. a certain number of facts, consequences, confirming it, should be derived from the hypothesis.

– the hypothesis from which the largest number of facts is derived will have greater explanatory power;

– simplicity, i.e. it should not contain any arbitrary assumptions, subjectivist accretions.

The facts of experience in some limited scientific field, together with realized, rigorously proven hypotheses, form a theory. Theory is an integral system of reliable knowledge. It is the highest form of generalization and systematization of knowledge.

Theory is a doctrine of generalized experience (practice), formulating scientific principles and methods that allow you to generalize and understand existing processes and phenomena, analyze the effect of various factors on them and offer recommendations for using them in people’s practical activities. The theory not only describes the totality of facts, but also explains them, i.e. reveals the origin and development of phenomena and processes, their internal and external connections, causal and other dependencies. All the provisions and conclusions contained in the theory are substantiated and proven.

The structure of the theory is formed by concepts, judgments, laws, scientific positions, teachings, ideas and other elements.

Concept is a thought that reflects the essential and necessary features of a certain set of objects or phenomena.

Category is a general, fundamental concept that reflects the most essential properties and relationships of objects and phenomena. Categories are philosophical, general scientific and related to a particular branch of science. Examples of categories in economic sciences: price, finance, credit.

A scientific term is a word or combination of words denoting a concept used in science. The set of concepts (terms) that are used in a particular science forms its conceptual apparatus.

A judgment is a thought that affirms or denies something.

A principle is a similar position of any branch of science. They are the initial form of systematization of knowledge (the axioms of Euclidean geometry, Bohr’s postulate in quantum mechanics, etc.).

An axiom is a position that is initial, unprovable, and from which, according to established rules, other provisions are derived. Logical axioms are, for example, the law of identity, the law of contradiction, the law of exclusion of the third.

Law – a provision expressing the general course of things in any area; a statement about how something is necessary or happens to be necessary. Laws are objective and express the most significant, stable, causal connections and relationships between phenomena and processes. Laws can be classified on various grounds. So, according to the main spheres of reality, one can single out the laws of nature, society, thinking and cognition; according to the scope of action – universal, general and private.

A scientific law is knowledge formulated by people in concepts, which, however, has its basis in nature, the objective world.

A position is a scientific statement, a formulated thought.

Doctrine – a set of theoretical provisions about any area of phenomena of reality. For example,

Idea is:

1) a new intuitive explanation of an event or phenomenon;

2) the defining pivotal position in the theory.

A concept is a system of theoretical views united by a scientific idea (scientific ideas); the basic idea.

The empirical level of research is characterized by the predominance of sensory cognition (the study of the external world through the senses). At this level, forms of theoretical knowledge are present, but have a subordinate significance.

The interaction of the empirical and theoretical levels of research is that:

1) the totality of facts constitutes the practical basis of the theory or hypothesis;

2) facts can confirm the theory or refute it;

3) a scientific fact is always permeated with theory, since it cannot be formulated without a system of concepts, interpreted without theoretical ideas;

4) empirical research in modern science is predetermined, guided by theory.

The formation of the theoretical level of science leads to a qualitative change in the empirical level. If before the theory was formed, the empirical material that served as its prerequisite was obtained on the basis of everyday experience and natural language, then when it reaches the theoretical level, it is «seen» through the prism of the meaning of theoretical concepts that begin to guide the setting up of experiments and observations – the main methods of empirical research.

The structure of the empirical level of research is made up of facts, empirical generalizations and laws (dependencies).

The concept of «fact» is used in several meanings:

– an objective event, a result related to objective reality (the fact of reality) or to the sphere of consciousness and cognition (the fact of consciousness);

– knowledge about any event, phenomenon, the reliability of which is proven (truth);

– a sentence that captures knowledge obtained in the course of observations and experiments.

An empirical generalization is a system of certain scientific facts, on the basis of which certain conclusions can be drawn or shortcomings and errors can be identified. Empirical laws reflect regularity in phenomena, stability in relationships between observed phenomena. These laws are not theoretical knowledge. Unlike theoretical laws, which reveal the essential connections of reality, empirical laws reflect a more superficial level of dependencies. For the success of scientific research, it must be properly organized, planned and carried out in a certain sequence (research procedure).

These plans and the sequence of actions depend on the type, object and goals of scientific research. So, if it is carried out on technical topics, then the main pre-planning document is first developed – a feasibility study, and then theoretical and experimental studies are carried out, a scientific and technical report is drawn up and the results of the work are introduced into production.

With regard to the work of students, the following successive stages of implementation can be outlined:

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