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Listen to the speaker and practise pronunciation of the words related to the scientific method:

Can you НiППОrОntiКtО ЛОtаООn tСО аorНs “mОtСoН”, “rОsearch mОtСoН” КnН “mОtСoНoloРв”? StuНв tСО ПolloаinР inПormКtion

and give more examples of methods. What methodology are you acquainted with?

Method is a way of doing something, especially a planned or established way. It implies an orderly logical arrangement (usually in steps).

e.g. They have adopted an alternative method of financing the scheme. Mediation is a method of solving disputes.

Methodology means the methods and principles used for doing a particular kind of work, especially scientific or academic research. Methodology can properly refer to the theoretical analysis of the methods appropriate to a field of study or to the body of methods and principles particular to a branch of knowledge.

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e.g. the methodology of a geographic survey; the methodology of modern cognitive psychology.

The term “methodology” refers to the overall approaches and perspectives to the research process as a whole and is concerned with the fol-

main issues:

why you collected certain data;

what data you collected;

where you collected it;

how you collected it; how you analyzed it.lowing

A research method refers only to the various specific tools or ways data can be collected and analyzed, e.g. a questionnaire; interview checklist; data analysis software etc.

A. Match some of the data collecting methods and their descriptions.

Valid research methods are required to permit observation of engineering design activity with the intention of collecting reliable data.

The following methods are to the fore in design research and are now briefly reviewed:

•prШtШМШХ studies;

•ОtСЧШРrКpСТМ Шbservation;

•СТstШrТМКХ Кnalysis;

•ОбpОrТОЧtТКХ Кnalysis.

Protocols involve observation of designers at work. Almost all of these studies arО ЛКsОН ШЧ аСКt аО ЦТРСt МКХХ “experimental data”, gleaned from a laboratory environment.

The ethnographic approach seeks to provide a written description of the implicit rules, traditions and behavioral patterns of a group. In an engineering context, participant observation would involve researchers gaining access to companies and working as designers or with designers to get an inside view of their activities.

Historical analysis is the discovery from past accounts or records a description or explanation for events in the past. Developments in design due to the introduction of new technology, for example, can be compared to developments in the past.

Experiential analysis. Some design researchers have drawn on their own experience of designing to give explanations of aspects of design.

Make a list of research methods, point out their purposes and advantages/disadvantages. Discuss your ideas with your group.

Make a list of research methods that you use/are going to use in your study. Account for this choice. Fill in the table.

Research method Application/Purpose Advantages/Disadvantages

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A. Look at the picture and suggest your definition of the scientific method. Then compare your ideas with definitions 1 3.

THE SCIENTIFIC

METHOD

The scientific method is a method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.

Oxford English Dictionary

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