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Observations of One Sort or Another Play a Key Role in Scientific and Other Forms of Research. It Has Also Been Argued, However, That the Usefulness of Observations Has Limitations. Discuss

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Observation is a complex process involving the active participation of the brain and use of senses, in order to gain more knowledge about a situation or event. An inductivist would say that this is the basis of science and plays a key role in scientific and other forms of research. However, using such a simple and direct form of gathering information may also have its limitations despite its usefulness.
Using observation to formulate scientific laws can be an unreliable method as results may vary based on individual observations. This happens as the observer’s gatherings may be what he expects to happen or what he wants to happen. In order for the observer to make a generalized statement, he may have to carry out a large number of observations depending on what he needs to find out. This may bring about a challenge for the observer since it can be time consuming and inappropriate for testing observations. The possibility of completing tests on all observations can be small; therefore it is likely that an exception may arise. Inductive statements always involve an element of doubt. There is no guarantee that the next observation will be the same as all the others and disprove the law. Another challenge is that it may be difficult to determine how many observations would be enough to support a law, as the number may be unlimited, and testing would have to be done under varied conditions.
Despite the aforementioned limitations of using this method, I believe that it is still an important factor of all approaches and is the basis to making conclusions to support laws.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Advantages and Disadvantages of Observation.” University of Strathclyde

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